Dawnguard
by 874509
Summary: Mortis, an assassin gets hired by the Dawnguard to do a simple job. He soon realises that the job may not be so simple as more and more details are uncovered. Will he be able to the very simple job of getting Serana home or will the road ahead and what's happened in his past drag him back and destroy him and all those around him. Currently being rewritten. Read and review.
1. Angelus Mortis

**If I start putting these at the top then the chapter number won't be off centre from now on. Every follow, favourite and review is very much appreciated, so if you like the story then tell me and if you think it could be better then tell me. **

**Word count.**

**Original: 1,134.**

**Re-write: 3,017**

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><p>Chapter I<p>

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><p>Angelus Mortis<p>

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><p>Mortis<p>

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><p>"You go looking for death and it'll find you."<p>

"I'm not looking for it, I'm looking for a substitute."

"A substitute for what?"

"Life and death and what's in-between and beyond."

"It's a fool's errand."

"So is looking for purpose, yet you'll do it."

"And what if you find what you're looking for?"

"Then I can rest easy."

"For how long?"

"For how long it takes."

"For what?"

"For death to come knocking."

"You expect you'll die?"

"I expect I'll live."

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><p>The inn reeks of piss and sweat, stale mead and blood. The Imperial legion have no authority here and they know it, this is Stormcloak territory and that means anyone not wearing the blue armour of their "just" cause is treated second rate or like a traitor. Apparently if you're not on their side then you're the enemy.<p>

Skyrim's not even on the edge of war anymore it just hasn't fully tipped over yet. The people know a storm is coming and they'll have to pick a side. There won't be innocents or objectors in this coming war. Everyone will either pick up their iron and steel or they'll fall to someone else's. I lean back in my chair, just watching the door.

Sven said the Stormcloak sergeant normally comes in for a drink, meal and bed. Apparently he's tall, like most Nords. Bulky and muscled. He's greying and walks with a pronounced limp. According to Sven he comes into to sit with the younger soldiers and older Nords who due to a variety of reasons cannot aid the Stormcloaks in the war apart from words of encouragement and all their war stories of when they fought against the Dominion in the last war. When they helped the Empire.

The tavern wench flitters from table to table, swaying her hips and enticing the young soldiers to buy more drinks and food. She laughs at the right moments in their jokes and stories, earning her tips and more orders. Must be why Sven keeps her around.

Guy who hired me went through so many middlemen and smokescreens I'm not even sure why he wants this guy dead, only that he wants the younger soldiers to see him go down. Really I should've gotten paid before I came here. I didn't realise how many there'd be. At least a lot of them are drunk by now.

This many Stormcloaks I can't fight and this close to Windhelm, I'll be chased down hung, drawn and quartered. If I'm lucky. I move the bottle away from myself slightly, sliding it along the table. Sven walks over to my table in the corner, in the shadows. He sits down opposite me. He scratches at his chin, at the scraggily hair growing on the bottom half of his face. He looks tired and he has bandages covering his left forearm.

"How're you going to do it?" He asks leaning forward, putting his elbows on the table. Leaning more to the right.

"Don't know yet." I lean back in my chair, adjusting my dagger. "Might stab him." I mumble, looking away from the man in front of me and back to the Stormcloaks.

Sven just nods absently, looking around at all of the young soldiers around the inn. "You got plans for Ulfric?" He asks, looking back at me.

I squint slightly, looking him in the eyes. "If someone pays me, aye." I glance back at them.

"Only if they pay you?" Sven quickly asks.

I lean forward getting closer to Sven. "I don't appreciate your questions."

Sven quickly leans back and noticeably gulps. A large Orc walks in, taking a seat at the bar, an odd axe hanging from his belt. Orcs round these parts, Skyrim's a dangerous place for non-Nords especially this close to Windhelm. I turn back to Sven, he's a strange looking man. Small for a Nord, thin too. I'd be surprised if the Stormcloaks haven't bullied him into paying taxes for the war, after all they'll need all the weapons and armour they can get a hold of and all that costs money. Although with so many of their men coming to his inn they probably don't want to scare him off. A man like him runs at the first sign of trouble.

The sergeant limps in. A few of the Stormcloak recruits stand up out of respect. Miss-placed, but so is the respect in the Empire. They salute it's an old Nord salute, one that the Skyrim divisions of the Imperial Legions used to do before they "lost" the last war.

"That's him." Sven says, watching the man.

I glance at him, before quickly turning my attention back to the sergeant. "Aye?" He nods, not looking at me.

"When you going to do it?" He asks turning around in his chair so he can watch the sergeant talk to the young recruits and the older Nords. He walks over to some other Stormcloak officers, tankard of mead in hand. Greeting them loudly, too loudly. It'd make it easier to get up behind him, his shouting looks to be distracting everyone around him. I could do it now, walk up behind him and stab him in the back. Or I could wait for him to drink himself to bed and slit his throat while he sleeps. Both plans are simple but both have the potential to fail. Getting into the room he's staying in will be difficult, apparently the majority of these soldiers stay here all night. If I'm lucky I can stab him in the back and slip out during the confusion.

I look at Sven, he's alternating between watching the sergeant and me. "Now." I stand up, pushing the chair back as I do. The legs scrape loudly against the floor. The rooms full of laughter and shouting. The sergeant speaks too loud. I quickly move towards the centre of the room where he is, still laughing and talking with the older Nords and the older more senior Stormcloaks. The ones who were around when they were still part of the Imperial forces.

I walk around the crowd of soldiers, there's a lot of them but the majority aren't armed. The ones that are have cheap iron weapons, most of which look blunt, a few of them only have knifes. I come to a stop behind him. I lean back behind one of the other soldiers, keeping out of the sight of the ones standing in front of the sergeant, facing my direction. I slowly slide my dagger out of the sheath on my belt, hiding it in my sleeve.

"Assassin!" Sven screams, managing to be heard over all the other noise.

Everyone stops talking and moving.

The sergeant turns around, searching for the assassin.

We lock eyes.

I move forward driving the dagger up in-between his ribs. He gasps as I force the dagger in higher and deeper. There's some shouting behind me, a lot of movement in the corner of my eye. Slipping out isn't happening.

His legs buckle. He falls. The dagger slides out. I'm left holding the weapon.

I look around, everyone's staring in silence.

"Bollocks."

One of the Stormcloaks draws his sword swinging it down overhead. I quickly move back, and swing my arm up to try and block the strike with the dagger. He slams his sword into the small blade and I have to brace my arm, lifting my left hand up to support the weapon. I quickly move forward, pushing all of my weight into him to try and push him back. He loses his footing and stumbles backwards, I quickly follow up on this and move my hands out of the way, slamming my shoulder into him and throwing him back into a small group of soldiers who were moving into attack.

Another soldier moves forward, slashing with his sword, I move back narrowly avoiding his broad swing. I stumble as I try to avoid the other soldiers around me. He steps forward and I take a risk, stabbing him in the shoulder, the weak point in his armour. He pulls back and I lose my grip on the daggers hilt. A mace is slammed into my stomach forcing me to the floor. I try to push myself up, onto my knees. A sharp blade on the back of my neck stops me.

"Hold it." A man with an incredibly strong Nord accent orders, he presses the blade harder against my neck. "Where's Sven?!" He shouts over the heavy silence. There's a loud bang and the sound of another chair scrapping against the wooden floor.

"Here!" One of the soldiers shouts, pushing the smaller man forward, he looks down at me and I make eye contact with him.

There's a small jangle. "The Stormcloak army would like to thank you for your help." The man grunts, he throws a small leather sack to Sven who only just manages to catch the small bag of coins. "Take the assassin away." He grumbles. There's a sharp pain on the back of my head, I feel myself fall forward before everything goes black.

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><p>"Wake up!" A voice shouts, there's a sloshing sound and then something being thrown in my face. "Wake up!" I open my eyes slowly, the bloke with the now empty bucket slaps my face hard. "You're lucky to still be alive." He snarls at me, showing off a mouthful of brown teeth. He's an older man, grey and black hair. He looks over me, then spits on me. "Traitor."<p>

My hands are shackled together, braced against the wall over my head. We're in a dark room, the only light source being a couple of torches near the heavy wood and iron door. He walks over to a chair and table. A set of tools for torture on the surface. Thumbscrews, a pair of anguish and a tongue tearer. There's a wooden horse on the wall adjacent.

"No I'm not." I mumble looking at the tools, the man turns back to look at me. "I've missed a quick death."

He smiles grimly, showing off those dark brown teeth again. "Now you'll be executed for the good Nords of Skyrim." He walks back towards me, and crouches down in front of me.

"And for the pleasure of the great and honourable Ulfric Stormcloak?" I grumble, looking him dead in the eyes.

He leans forward, his face uncomfortably close to mine. "You'll do good to hold your tongue, cut throat." He stands up, moving to the door, he puts his hand on the heavy opening mechanism. "You'll rot in here until your time comes."

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><p>The guards moved me into a cell. I think I've been in here for about seven months. It's hard to keep track of the days but I've been scratching lines in the stone for each day that's passed. One of the Guards walks passed my cell, throwing a chunk of charred, questionable meat between the bars.<p>

"Water?!" I call to his back, leaning against the bars and letting my arms dangle out of them.

He turns around, his blue and chainmail armour looking a lot more threatening in the dim light, he walks back over to the cell. His helmet doesn't give anything away about his emotions or what he's thinking. "You're lucky you're getting fed." He mumbles, staring down at me.

He stands there in silence, just watching me. He rests his hand on the top of his axe and walks around to the front of the cell. He looks down at the chunk of meat, before turning around and walking away.

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><p>There's a loud banging on the bars, metal on metal. Striking to the very core.<p>

"Wake up. You've got a visitor." The guard mocks.

I open my eyes to see a large Orc, wearing thick and heavy plated armour. Unlike normal plate armour though the plates on his are made of leather. There's a guard stood next to him, the same one who normally brings the "food". The Orc looks down at me, his face has a few scars on it. Bad ones. He looks older than most Orcs you see around, probably around forty years old, maybe a few more.

It's the same Orc from the inn. I didn't notice much about him but the strange axe hanging from his waist is a giveaway. The intricate design carved into the steel.

I raise an eyebrow as he continues to look down at me. "The leader of the Dawnguard would like to extend an offer to you." He announces, resting his forearm against the bars.

I pull myself up using the bars. "Aye?" I ask, pulling myself up to my full height, the Orc is taller than me. At least by about four inches. "What would that be?"

He looks at the Stormcloak guard. "Five thousand septims for a couple of jobs." I look at the Orc, he doesn't smirk and his expression is dead serious. I glance at the guard.

I lean forward pressing my forehead against the bars, looking back at the Orc. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm in prison." I grumble.

He smirks, showing some very broad and sharp teeth. "Which doesn't put you in a situation for negotiations." He takes a step back, letting his arm fall back to his side.

I let my arms dangle through the bars, leaning heavily against the door. "Alright." I look down at the floor. "What's the deal?"

"We can get you out." The Orc says. "You get half, do the jobs, you get the other half." He leans closer to the bars, getting down to my level. "And you _do_ the jobs."

"Aye?" I step back from the bars, stumbling ever so slightly as I spread my arms out a bit. "Let's go meet your leader than."

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><p>The carriage ride is long and relatively uneventful, I managed to talk "Durak" into going to an old cabin near Sven's inn so I could collect my equipment. Durak sits at the very front of the carriage, leading it to the fort near Riften. I wasn't even aware there was a fort near Riften. Well at least not one of note. I sit slightly behind him, I turn the ring around my finger, looking down at the old piece of dulled silver.<p>

"What's his name?" I croak, having not said a lot for the past four hours.

"Isran." He brings the whips down onto the horses. "He said only a man with your specific skill sets could get these jobs done."

"Aye?" I lean back slightly. My shrouded armour needs repairing around the left arm. The cloak is already ripped to pieces. And the majority of the chainmail around the shoulders is only half hanging on. "Sounds like he knows what he's talking about."

Durak, just gives out half a scoff, spitting off to the side. "Here we are." He announces. "Fort Dawnguard."

I look up from my armour and my ring. The fort is larger than I expected. There's sentries of to the sides and the valley creates a natural choke point, should it ever come under attack. There's sharpened wooden supports, pointing out so that any invaders wouldn't be able to climb the sides of the valley. It's an impressive building no doubt, standing tall and proud with its architecture giving off an intimidating feel. Shame its empty.

The carriage comes to stop at the bottom of the steps leading to the keep doors. "Isran will be up there, waiting." Durak states. I look at the back of the Orc's head. He doesn't bother looking at me or the fort, just forward. I pull my glove back on, stretching my hand as the thick leather creaks loudly.

I climb off not saying anything to Durak, my feet hit the dirt ground and I glance at the Orc over my shoulder. He looks at me, turning his head to the side slightly. I turn away and start to walk up the steps, they're steep which would give the defenders the advantage during an attack. I reach the keep doors, their massive, made of wood, heavy planks stacked on top of each other and braced with iron. The doors are heavy, hard to push as I have to brace my footing and put all my weight into forcing it to move. Good should they ever come under attack.

The door finally opens, letting in a strip of light, illuminating the dark room. There's a Redguard sat up against the wall. Heavy armour, the same as what Durak was wearing, except his is covered in black, probably tar. He has a war hammer on his back, from my very limited view of the hammers head it has a very similar design carved into it as Durak's axe. He stands up, brushing a hand through his long beard. He's older as well, probably around a similar age to Durak.

"You're the assassin?" He asks, his voice is deep and gravelly. Carries a lot of authority in his tone. He walks over to me, coming to a stop around a metre away from me.

"Aye." I answer, watching his movements as he looks at me and squints. As if he's trying to look through me and decide if I'm telling the truth.

"Angelus Mortis." He says, starting to walk around me, in a broad circle, never straying from his metre of distance. "The Angel of Death, Azrael or whatever you go by." He comes to a stop in front of me again.

"Mortis is fine."

He lets a small grin spread on his face. "I've got a job for you." He tells me, looking my armour up and down.

I look off to the side, there's a stairwell, a spiral stairwell leading up to a higher level. I look up at the balcony, I turn my attention back to Isran. "So I've heard.

He moves his hands behind his back, clasping them together and straightening out his posture. "What do you know about vampires?"


	2. Dimhollow

**Follows, favourites and reviews are appreciated, so if you want to then go ahead. Thanks to everyone who has done any of that and thanks to everyone who's read the story. **

**Word count. **

**Original: 1,385**

**Re-write: 3,186**

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><p>Chapter II<p>

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><p>Dimhollow<p>

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><p>Mortis<p>

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><p>I push my feet harder against the stone, trying to wrap my arm around one of the many outcrops scattered over and around the cliff face. The rock crumbles off in my hand, narrowly missing my legs as it falls heavily between them and down to the hard ground below. The fall wouldn't kill me but I wouldn't be walking back to Fort Dawnguard. I'd rather not take a tumble down a cliff.<p>

At least not today.

I pull myself up, my foot slipping in the rain that's relentlessly pounding against my back and the stone, only making it harder to traverse. I finally manage to reach the top, swinging my leg over the top and pulling the rest of my weight over my other leg following close behind. The mouth of the cave is almost invisible from the ground, there was a few moments while I was climbing I wondered if I had chosen the right spot. I pull out the crossbow Isran gave me, quickly bracing the strap around my left arm. Loading a bolt, I walk through the threshold and into the dry but damp and earthy cave.

My boots are loud against the stone ground, and the chainmail on my armour creates a soft jangle as I move. I stop walking and have a slow look around so I can try and gage my surroundings, Isran said I should expect "residents". Vampires, apparently that's who the Dawnguard are, vampire hunters. Trying to bring lasting peace to a cursed soul or they just hate vampires, I'm not entirely sure. I didn't bother asking questions, people rarely tell you what _you_ want to know.

The cave opens up into a medium sized cavern, a small waterfall off to the side. There's some old Nordic ruins, a half destroyed wall with some letters engraved in the stone. I walk over to the wall, brushing my fingers against the deep groves that make up the letters. The only place I've ever seen anything like this is in the college near Winterhold and even then it looked to be a simplified version of what I'm looking at now. I turn my head and look at the large iron-gate on the adjacent wall, it's been bent inwards. The rock wall smashed away, leaving rubble all around it.

Crouching down I brush my fingers in the dust leading to the gate, I look up at the way the metal has been manipulated. It was bent inwards, whoever did it was trying to get to where I'm going, there's the tell-tale signs of an opening mechanism at the top of the gate but either age or the force of the gate being all but destroyed has damaged them beyond repair. I lean forward and rest my hand against the rubble.

I lean back slightly, the steel guard at the end of my crossbow scrapes along the floor. I freeze as it echoes through the cavern. Grabbing the stock to stop it from moving. I rest my left hand on the hilt of my dagger, curling my fingers around it, the leather creaking. There's footsteps through the corridor, echoing loudly, two people by the sound of it.

My head whips up, the hood falls back. There's loud conversation from around the corner, their using ancient Nordic? They teach it at the college in Winterhold and that's the only place as far as I know, at least it's the only other place I've ever heard it. Two men walk around the corner one has an axe the other a sword. I take my chance and quickly duck back into the shadows, pulling my hood back over my head I take a couple of steps back, moving quickly and trying to stay quiet.

The one with the axe takes the lead dragging the edge of the blade against the wall, he pulls it off and hits it back against the wall to make it louder. He starts calling out in Nordic, the language is strange sounding and sounds very intimidating, even more so as I don't know what they're saying. He has a broad Nordic accent, very guttural and deep. He quickly switches to a more used dialect. "We know you're here." He steps around, hitting the axe into the stone, chipping away a large chunk that hits the ground heavily. "We hear your breathing." Moving around, I hold my breath and edge around to go behind the waterfall. He stops walking around in the broad circle, turning to stare at the waterfall. "Clever." He hefts the weight of the axe, balancing the weapon as he straightens out his arm slightly. I grab the crossbow, bracing it against my left arm again. The other man moves around behind the other, readying his sword. "But you walk too loudly." I bring up the crossbow firing, the bolt strikes, hitting him in the forehead. He slumps to the ground, his legs buckling as the bolt slams into his skull and shatters the bone. Turning him to dust.

The other charges forward, through the waterfall. He swings the sword at my face. I push the crossbow so that the steel guard clangs into the blade, knocking the sword out of his hand. He grabs onto the cross section pulling forward and kicking me in the stomach. The thick leather manages to absorb most of the force but it stills throws me back. I grab the hilt of the sword on my back, he takes a hold of my left arm pulling me up. I let go of the sword letting it clatter on the hard stone. Trying to quickly draw my dagger he grabs my throat, pivoting on the balls of his feet he throws me back to where the other vampire was. I land hard on my left arm, I quickly roll onto my back.

I reach back grasping the handle of the axe and swing it forward with both hands letting go. The blade embeds itself in his shoulder cutting through the bone and flesh and bursting the arteries. The blood doesn't burst out like in a live body, instead the dark blood drools and dribbles out. He lands on his back with a loud grunt. I get up as quick as I can, quickly scrambling for the dagger, crouching over him I drive the blade up through the bottom of his skull, through the windpipe. He turns to dust under me.

Leaning back on my haunches trying to catch my breath I slam the dagger back into my sheath, I look around at the two piles of dust. I push up on my knee, taking a step forward I pick up my sword and crossbow. I walk back over to the gate, putting my hand on the bars. I lean against it and pull my crossbow around, loading another bolt while I have the chance. I start moving my left arm, stretching it out and pulling it back, I drop the crossbow letting the strap hold it up I grab my left arm and move my fingers along the elbow, I stretch it out one final time before I let go and let my arm fall back to my side.

The corridors inside the caves are winding, narrow and long. Water pools on the floor and more drops from the ceiling, I move as quietly and quickly as I can my crossbow held low in front of me. Pointing down but ready to use if the need arises, I tighten my grip on the stock and push it harder in the crook of my elbow. The buckle of my belt clangs slightly against the metal on my daggers sheath. Creating a soft tap with every step and with the small amount of water on the floor each step makes a small splashing sound. Those two vampires weren't worried about making noise but that doesn't mean that anymore lurking around the corridors and caves won't be. I lift the crossbow up properly so that I can aim better and quickly move around a corner, keeping the crossbow level.

There's a pile of dust in the corner of the room, a dead draugr nearby and another pile of dust just behind it. The vampires must have hit something they weren't counting on. The dead, mummified remains of the Nords who lived before the Empire or the Dominion. If the vampires were killed by them then they defiantly didn't count on them being here. Vampires aren't the most dangerous but two of them would be able to handle a single draugr, unless there was more than one. Although draugr are very dangerous in confined spaces. The vampires probably didn't stand a chance, draugr like to attack in groups.

I come out of the confined space and step into a larger cavern, a small cliff overlooking a thin river gushing in from behind the jagged rock. There's blood in the water, dark blood, not fresh. A torch nearby shines a warm orange glow over the small body of water. There's a vampire close by and she's injured, a large wound in her stomach. She's slumped against a large rock.

I need to keep moving. Isran said the vampires were looking for something probably an artefact of some kind. Intercept and kill them, if I need to, find what they want. Either secure or destroy it. Why send an assassin to do the Dawnguard's dirty work? I reach the cliff face, sling the crossbow across my back and then grab the handholds in the rock and ready myself to start climbing again.

There's a cough behind me. I turn around, the vampires staggering, clutching her stomach. She looks like she doesn't know what's happening around her. "They came from every angle." She falls back down, struggling to keep herself up on the floor. "We didn't stand a chance, Vingalmo left us for dead." She collapses on the floor completely. "Coward ran back to Volkihar." She snarls weakly, spitting out more of her thick, dark blood. It's almost black when it hits the floor.

I walk over to her, standing over her and looking down. "What are you looking for here?" I grumble, holding the crossbow ready, I aim it down at her.

She snarls slightly, showing off her blood stained teeth. More blood runs down her chin and onto her neck. "Why should…" She coughs loudly, choking on her blood. As far as I know vampires don't breathe but blood in their throat must make them "choke". "… I tell you, mortal?"

I shrug slightly, letting the crossbow fall back to my side. "I'm your only chance of getting out of here." I look up at the top of the cliff, then glance back to her.

She laughs bitterly. "I'm not surviving this." She coughs again, spitting up more blood. "You'll kill me after I tell you." She laughs but there's no humour in it. "You've come here. Blind." She grins as she looks at me. "You've been sent, but you didn't ask any questions." She laughs again, coughing loudly, the whole thing racking her body. "Only the foolish follow orders they don't understand."

I raise the crossbow and fire a bolt, it hits her in the chest turning her to dust. I take a few minutes to stare down at the spot where her body was. Maybe she's right, I didn't ask any questions about why I was sent here. I just accepted what Isran told me. I turn back to the small cliff I need to get back to finding the artefact, even if I don't understand why I'm looking for it I still need to follow through with the job. I struggle to climb at first, my left arm still hurting from the fight. I pull myself over the top and start to move back into the tunnels that make up the caves.

The tunnels go deeper, further into the depths. As I walk through them I can feel the slight decline in the ground, there's more water on the floor deeper than it was further up, now there's at least a few inches of water on the floor. The draft is a lot worse down here, more or less freezing. The chill gets you to the bone. I load the crossbow as I move, slowing down to make it easier to ready.

"I'll never tell you anything, _vampire._ My oath to Stendarr is stronger than any suffering you can inflict on me." A voice echoes, it sounds fairly far from where I am, so I start to hurry to get closer. The man who spoke has a Nordic accent, not as broad as most Nords but still noticeable. He pronounces his words in such a way that gives off the impression that he's well read but the fact that he speaks with a Nordic accent means that he probably isn't as well read as he would lead others to believe.

"I believe you, Vigilant. I don't think you even know what you've found here." Another male voice snarls, in a condescending way. There's a crack and a soft thump, a shallow splash. "Get back to work!" He roars at his subordinates. I reach the cavern they're in, crouching down and low behind cover, I glance through the gaps in the railings, at the top of the ledge at the top of the cavern. The dead vigilant is lying limp on the floor his neck snapped to the side, at an unnatural angle. A vampire is stood over him, flicking through a book. Another vampire and a thrall walk off over to a large carved stone island in the middle of a pit of water.

I ready my crossbow, pulling it around in front of me, I raise it aiming for his head. I fire, the bolt strikes true it slams into his temple, there's a dry crack either from the bolt cracking or his skull. The other vampire charges back to the body of the first which turns to dust just as she reaches it. I climb over the railing dropping down. There's nowhere near enough time to load my crossbow, being so would've been too loud and timing consuming anyway. I quickly draw my dagger, turning it around in my hand so that I'm holding the blade, I ready it and throw it at her the knife hitting her in the chest. Not a fatal wound.

The thrall turns the corner, battle-axe in hand and I scramble to load the crossbow, aiming it and firing as fast as I can. It hits him in the chest, he stumbles back as he loses his footing. I drop the crossbow to the side and draw my sword. The vampire gets back to her feet, pulling the dagger out of her chest and throwing it to the ground. She pulls out a shorter curved sword, she walks to the side readying for an attack. Her footing is a dead giveaway to what her plan is, and what kind of move she's going to try.

She lunges forward, favouring the left side. I twist around to block the attack, she tries to hook the curved edge of her sword around mine. I turn it to the side, moving hers out of the way I move my left arm around and hook it around her arm, pulling her close to me. I pull her forward and kick my leg out into the side of her knee, bending her leg to the side and forcing her to the floor. She falls down to her knees and I drive the sword down into her back, dark blood pools around the entry wound. She slumps to the side and turns to dust, leaving only her dark blood dripping off my sword, some of the dust sticks to the blood on the blade.

There's a thump and heavy footfalls behind me, I turn to face the thrall who struggles to get to his feet properly. He takes a swing with his battle axe, forcing me to move quickly to avoid the blade. I duck down and move to the side. He takes another swing and I manage to grab the handle, he pulls the weapon back roughly and I slide my sword across his throat, slicing through his windpipe. He drops the axe as both his hands go to the gaping wound, trying to stop the blood from rushing out. He takes a couple of steps back, his eyes going wide. He screams silently. I push him back and he tumbles over the railing, landing face down in the water, floating just above the surface.

I walk back over to the dead vigilant. The pile of dust is next to his feet, I bend down and pick up the book the vampire was reading. It has some dust on it, and some blood most likely from a wound on the vigilant's arm. I flick through the pages, there's some sketches of the caves and tunnels, some more of the cavern with the small cliff and some more of this room. A few hastily written notes on the island in the middle of the water. There's something about an artefact that the vigilant's found down here. Dimhollow crypt? Isran didn't bother to tell me what this place was called just pointed to it on my map.

I start on my way to the small bridge, picking up my dagger on the way. I walk across the bridge to the island in the water. There's some metal stands scattered about with large chalice like objects on top of them. I walk over to one and rest my hand against it, there's something in the chalice. I put my hand in and pull out a large chunk of purple crystal, dark and dulled. I drop it back in, I pull the book back out and look for any notes on them. According to the vigilant's research there's soul gems in the ceremonial chalices. I tuck the book in the back of my belt and move over to the centre of the island.

There's a small monolith in the middle of the island. A round piece of stone etched into the top. The journal said something about placing one's hand on the monolith. I do as the journal instructs, pressing down on the round stone with my left hand. A large thin spike slides out tearing through the hardened leather, skin and bone. Splitting the middle fingers on my hand apart. Just as quickly the spike slides back in. the monolith rises up out of the ground. I fall onto my back scrambling for a rag to tie around the wound. I push back, away from it, tying the rag around my hand pressing the fingers back together. A panel on the front of the monolith slides down slowly. I sling the crossbow around bracing it on my knee, putting my now injured left hand on top of the crossbow and aiming at the opening.

A woman falls out.


	3. The Crypt

**Follows, favourites and reviews are appreciated, so if you want to then go ahead. Thanks to everyone who has done any of that and thanks to everyone who's read the story. **

**Word count.**

**Original: 1,580**

**Re-write: 4,767**

* * *

><p>Chapter III<p>

* * *

><p>The Crypt<p>

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><p>Serana<p>

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><p>I wake up with a start, my eyes snapping open in the dark. The prison I was put in, it all comes rushing back, my mother telling me it's the only way and then… nothing. Just nothing. There's the sound of stone grinding on stone, it's echoes and surrounds me, tears at my ears and invades every sense as the small confines of my cell fill with dust and the strong smell of blood. Live blood.<p>

It can't be mother.

There's a heavy breath and then the sounds of more grinding between stones, metal scrapping on stone. A loud grunt, as there's what sounds like scrambling. Maybe it is mother with a thrall. There's more blood in the air, the thick and rich metallic stench fills the small hell my mother made for me. A heavy clank, the tightening of material. I can taste the blood at the back of my throat, my mouth unwillingly opens to accept more of the thick liquid. Except there isn't any, at least not in my coffin.

There's another loud clanking of metal and wood on stone. Then a heavy thud, and scrambled, hurried footsteps. And a heavy brushing sound.

I can smell the blood even more strongly than before now. I close my eyes as the smell surrounds me. I open my eyes slowly. The front of the coffin has gone, slid down into the ground, I feel my whole body collapse forward as the part I was leaning against disappears into the stone. Falling forward I manage to catch myself on my hands and knees, I stare down at the ground, the floor spinning as I try to get a grip of my sense of balance. I close my eyes, still keeping my head down, I feel my body sway from to side to side as I let slightly more weight fall onto my hands.

It takes me a few moments to gather my senses and come to grips with being out of the coffin. I open my eyes, the rooms finally stopped spinning. I glance up. There's a man, sat with his lets stretched out in front of him, a strange bow like weapon held in one hand, his left arm is resting on top of it a rag tied tightly round his left hand. Must be where the smell is coming from. He climbs to his feet, slowly. He keeps the weapon aimed at me. It looks like a smaller version of the "crossbows" in my books about Dwemer technology.

The man gets to his feet fully. He looks older than me, he's obviously not actually older but he looks to be in his thirties. He's got a thick beard, and long and black hair. Parts of the left side of his hair look like they've been knotted into dreadlocks. He's pale, dark rings under his eyes. He takes a step to the side. His armours made of leather, parts of it stitched up and some parts have noticeably been replaced with newer pieces of leather. It's mostly black but some parts are a very deep, dark red. There's studs coming through some parts of the armour and chainmail covering the top parts of his shoulders and hanging over the upper half of his chest. There's a very torn woollen hood on his head, falling off to the side and revealing his face. The only colour about him are his eyes, a very pale and cold green.

I climb to my feet, using the coffin as support. I sway gently on my feet as I look away from the man. I take another look at him, he's still aiming the "crossbow" at me. He takes another step to the right, he stretches his left arm out a bit before quickly pulling it back to him and putting it back on top of the "crossbow". I go to say something but nothing comes out, I cough lightly, swallowing a couple of times to try and get my voice back. I move my hand to my throat and massage it gently, looking back to the man.

"Unh." I swallow, another quiet cough coming out. "Where is…" I cough again, this isn't good. Mother should be here, not whoever this man is. "Who sent you?" I lean against the coffin, a bit lighter than before. I look at him properly, he just stares at me, crossbow levelled at my chest. "Who sent you here?" I ask again, more forceful this time, my hand strays down to the small elven made knife at my waist. I take a closer look at his weapons, a dagger on his left side and the hilt of a sword just showing past his right shoulder. I doubt I could beat him in a straight up sword fight but with my spells I could stop him in his tracks fairly quickly.

He stares at me a moment longer, moving the crossbow down slightly, before he adjusts his hand on the weapon and lifts it back up fully, he lets his fingers drop down to the side of the weapon. "Who were you expecting?" He speaks in a low, gruff register. Quiet and intimidating, he half whispers as he takes another step to the right. His voice is gravelly and tough to listen to. He takes a quick step back

I'm taken aback by his answer somewhat. I suppose in the back of my mind I still half expected mother to have sent him to finally free me, but no. If mother had sent him he would've told me and he wouldn't still have that weapon aimed at me. "Someone… like me at least." I regret saying it as soon as I do. He probably would have figured it out eventually, he doesn't look _too_ thick in the head.

A small humourless grin pulls at the corner of his mouth, he puts his weight back on his right hand. "Vampire." He says, with dead certainty in his voice. He lifts the crossbow up more, moving his left hand down to the underside of the weapon.

I look him straight in the eyes. He just stares back, no fear in his eyes. He's trying hard to keep his emotions closely guarded, I remember seeing that look in both mother's and father's eyes, trying to hide everything that they were feeling from each other, trying to constantly get and keep the upper hand. He is scared but he's keeping it from me, probably from himself. Not allowing himself to feel his fear because if he admitted his fear to himself, then he'd lose his upper hand right now. "Yes." I confirm for him, his head goes down slightly and his crossbow goes up slightly.

He grumbles something under his breath. "The Dawnguard would want me to kill you." He states circling to the right again. He readies the crossbow again, pushing it harder against his shoulder. I hear a muffled sound from the other side of the cavern, a couple of dulled footfalls.

I swallow. This man's Dawnguard? The order of vampire hunters? I used to have a book about the old and ancient orders in Tamriel, the Dawnguard was in that book. They waged a very aggressive and very long war that they ultimately lost against the vampires, they managed to thin out the population by a massive amount though but the Dawnguard were destroyed in the process. "Not very fond of vampires, are they?" I ask, glancing back at the coffin.

He takes another step back, there's another muffled thump from the other side of the cavern. That grin pulls at the corner of his mouth again. "You could say that." He answers gruffly. It's a sarcastic answer but there's no humour when he says it. There's a hint of aggression and bitterness to his tone. But no humour.

"Well." I say, not quite knowing what to say next, but if I don't say anything he might fire one of those arrows at me before I get a chance. "Look kill me, you've killed one vampire." He tilts his head to the side slightly, the small grin disappears from his lips. "But if people are after me." I stop not quite knowing how to finish, he straightens his neck back out. "There's something bigger going on." I finish, watching him to try and gage how he's going to react.

"That right?" He asks, grumbling lowly. He takes a slow step forward and then another to the right. "And what makes you think people are after you?" He asks, dropping the crossbow down slightly and relaxing his hold on the weapon. He drops his left hand away from the crossbow.

I watch his movements, he moves his hand and tucks his thumb under his belt. Then drops his crossbow down, holding it with one hand, still aiming it at me. "You're here and I can smell blood." I take half a step forward, he raises the bow, his left hand straying to his dagger. "Which means you're bleeding or someone else was." He tilts his head to side slightly.

He lowers the bow slightly, still keeping it high enough to fire if need be. "What do you propose?" He asks, genuine curiosity in his voice as he says it.

I take another step forward, there's that noise again. I half turn my head in the direction it came from. It's slightly louder than it was before. "My family used to live on an island, near Solitude." I tell him, he squints slightly as he looks at me.

"We're not going near Solitude." He tells me, shooting my plan down before he's even heard it, he lowers the bow more. "Legion's got it locked tight. We'd be lucky to get within a hundred leagues." He clarifies for me. He looks off to the side, flexing his jaw slightly.

Legion's got it locked tight? What is he talking about? I take half a step to the right and he responds by taking one to the left. "Legion?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"The Empire's legion." He says it like it's the most obvious and sure thing in the world. Like it's always been a constant in his life, like there's no doubt about this Empire. Only problem is there wasn't an Empire at all when I was locked away and all of the provinces stood by themselves, not united under an Empire and while we never got too involved in the politics of Tamriel, there was no chance of any of them forming an Empire. Skyrim's one of the last places I would expect an Empire to call home, the holds seemed happy enough killing each other for the position of high king.

"Empire? What Empire?" I know I probably sound scared and unsure but right now, at this very moment I need answers and this man is the only one who can give me them. If an Empire has risen and come to power in the time I've been down here then…

"From Cyrodiil." He answers.

…it's been longer than we planned. "Cyrodiil is the seat of an Empire?" I ask quickly, moving forward again, he steps back and raises the crossbow more. Cyrodiil was one of the weakest provinces, never thought they'd come to any sort of power.

"Aye." He moves his left hand back to the underside of the bow, curling his fingers around it slowly. He clenches his jaw again. "How long you been down here?"

I take a couple of steps back and brush my fingers against the coffin, I lean back against my prison. I close my eyes slightly, trying to think about when I was put in and how long it would take for an Empire to rise. "Hard to say." I open my eyes, and focus on the man in front of me. "Whose Skyrim's high king?"

He lets out a low bitter laugh making me raise an eyebrow. "Depends on who you ask." He answers, dropping the bow down some more.

"A war for succession?" He nods silently. Good to know Skyrim's the same as it's always been. "Who are the contenders?" I ask, so the holds are still fighting and struggling for power over each other. Somethings never change, the Nord's are strong but they were always way too stubborn to bend to a leader. They've always more interested in how and when they can kill something.

"Torygg is on the throne but many believe that Ulfric should be king." He looks around the cavern. Torygg and Ulfric? Those names aren't familiar. None of this is familiar, even this man's equipment is unknown, smaller versions of Dwemer technology and his armour? Warriors don't dress like that. And the Dawnguard supposedly carried highly decorated axes and wore bronze armour. This man here, just looks like a mercenary or worse.

"Any idea how you get out of here?" I ask him, moving away from the coffin, there's that sound again. Now the unmistakable sound of boots on stone. The small studs on the bottom of his soles tapping along with each step.

The man, hears this as well as he turns to where the sounds are coming from. He pulls his crossbow up to fire but the new man. The thrall manages to knock it to the side, sending the short arrow flying away harmlessly. The thrall swings a mace down overhead, getting at much momentum and weight behind it as he can, the man uses the crossbow to defend himself raising it up with both hands. The mace crashes down into the wooden stock smashing it into two parts, the man's left arm dropping down slightly with the hit. Leaving an opening, the thrall swings the mace to the left of the man and he unexpectedly tries to defend himself with his right arm, moving his left out of the way as best he can. He uses his right hand to push the thrall's hand out of the way and then rolls along with the remaining force of the blow, greatly reducing the strength behind the mace but still knocking him to the floor. I skirt around the fight to the back of the thrall. He pulls his fist back and slams it down into the man's face, knocking him to the floor completely.

I decide to step in before the man dies and draw on my knowledge of spells, sending a spear of ice gliding into the thrall's back, blood bursts from the spear and it pushes all the way through his chest. I quickly follow it up with another spear, sending it slicing through the small of his back. The thrall slams into the ground, landing face down on the stone.

The man pushes himself up to his feet, his left eyebrow is split, dripping blood down the side of his face and into his eye somewhat. I feel my tongue graze over my teeth at the sight of it. "We should leave." He grumbles, moving towards where the thrall came from. He wipes the back of his hand against his eyebrow, getting the blood out of his eye.

"You're going to help me get home?" I following him closely, he doesn't turn his back on me completely, only slightly keeping his right facing me and his hand close to his dagger. He drops a small quiver filled with those short arrows on the ground. He just nods in answer to my question. He leads us up a wide staircase, although by the way he's looking around he has about as much of an idea where he's going as I do. Gargoyle's line the stairs, sitting proudly with their jaws open showing off rows and rows of teeth. "Be careful." I mumble, keeping my eyes on the gargoyles.

I glance back at the man and he's just watching me with his hand still on the hilt of his dagger. "Of what?" He grumbles, looking at me like he's getting ready to attack.

I look back at one of the gargoyles, staring at it. My fingers wrap around the knife at my waist. I look back at him and his eyes are glued to my movements around the knife, eyeing me like a threat. "Gargoyles." I tell him, gesturing to them with my free hand. He breaks his hard glare on my hand and moves his eyes to one of the gargoyles, staring into the cold, stone and lifeless eyes of the proposed threat to his life. "We should keep moving." I tell him.

He looks back at me and then gestures with his head for me to lead the way. I look at him and frown slightly. "I want to keep my eyes on you." He grumbles shortly. Obviously not wanting to explain himself at all. Especially to a vampire, or maybe just a stranger.

I eye the gargoyles as I walk around him to go in front I take a few steps into a tunnel before I hear him start to follow. The tunnels narrow, too narrow for the gargoyles to fit through never mind actually be able to fight in. That's not what worries me though. There's torches lining the walls and more light at the end. "Did you light these torches?"

There's a long pause as I continue walking, I don't turn around and I don't bother to pressure him for an answer I don't think I'd be able to even if I tried. "Draugr." He grunts, the short and gravelly answer echoing slightly in the tunnel. Draugr, the reason people stay away from these ruins and tombs. The undead and restless occupants of these mass graves. The ancient Nords, plagued by years and years of war and endless conflict which they now carry with them to their graves.

I look at him over my shoulder, his right hand is resting on the hilt of the sword on his back, ready to draw at a moment's notice. "Are you fine to fight?" I whisper to him, looking forward again as soon as the last word leaves my mouth, we're nearing the end of the tunnel and if he's right about it being draugr then they might be waiting for us.

"Aye." He grunts. He sounds angry when he says in but also makes it seem like a warning. I tense up slightly as I hear his sword slide out of its scabbard.

I come to the end of the narrow tunnel and stop. The man stops shortly after me then I hear him edge back slightly. I put my hand on the side of the tunnel and slowly draw my dagger, edging round the corner slightly so I can look into the room better. There's large stone caskets up against the wall, standing up right, one of them is open the lid lying flat on the ground. I turn back to face the man slightly, giving a short nod and then walk fully into the room. There's a short passage way leading into another much smaller room. There's a draugr standing in the doorway. The man, pushes me out of the way slightly, moving in front of me with his sword. Heading directly for the draugr. He creeps up behind the dead creature and stabs his sword into its back, the dry cracking and breaking of the beast's ribs echoes around the room, sounding much louder in the dead silence.

The draugr keeps standing for a few minutes, a choked moan coming out of its skull. It moves its arms and the bones noticeably pull at the tight and sullen, grey skin. The creature moves its head around, its neck cracking with the movement. He finally pulls his dagger out and stands up right, stabbing the small blade into its chest and forcing it down to the ground, unmoving. Brought to rest. It lands on the ground with a heavy thud.

The man freezes his movements. Not daring to move. The air is thick with the stench of decay and with the paranoid silence he's created. I stop moving and look to the man, he holds his breath still keeping a grip on his sword and dagger. He looks back at me, frowning, he looks worried. He slowly pulls the dagger out, making very little noise. He holds the small weapon at the ready as I follow his lead. Gripping my knife and spreading my fingers out on my left hand. I look around the room and I hear the man pull his sword out of the now dead draugr. Maybe we're clear.

There's a loud grinding sound, smashing the silence that we were in only seconds before and bringing me back to the harsh reality that the draugr heard the short struggle. The man moves away from the body and puts some distance between himself and the caskets against the wall. One of the lids is pushed away and slams into the floor with a deafening crack as the stone is split into thirds. A draugr steps out its confinements, a bronze sword in its cold grip and a bronze shield strapped to its other arm. It lets out a choked and muffled dust filled, dry scream. Two more of the abominations follow it, echoing its actions.

I take a couple of steps back putting some distance between myself and the draugr. The man readies his sword, getting into a defensive position. The first draugr charges him, swinging an axe at him. He steps back and blocks the attack with his sword, once again favouring his right to his left as he tries to quickly follow up with an attack with his dagger.

I summon lightning at one of the others heading straight for me, pushing it back while I move on the third slashing at it with my knife. It swings it's sword down forcing me to retreat out of its reach. I quickly send one of my ice spears at its body but it pulls its shield in front of it stopping the cold spear from entering its soft and vulnerable flesh. The man pushes into my back with his and I can feel him move around quickly before he moves away from me. I hear a heavy crash from behind and a deep guttural roar from the draugr.

I drop my knife, readying my right hand I choose to throw an ice spear from each hand, one glances off its shield but the other embeds itself in its neck. Stopping it in its tracks and forcing it to the ground. The second tries to hack at me with its axe, I duck back and send three more spears into its stomach, it hits the ground, motionless. I pick up my knife and rush to the first draugr. Slamming the small blade into the front of its skull. There's a dry crack from the other side of the room and I turn around, the man is stood over his draugr, his sword back in its scabbard and his dagger embedded in the creature's stomach.

"We should be quieter." I call to him in a hushed whisper, he looks at me and nods, pulling his dagger out and putting it back into its sheath quietly. "We don't know how many more are down here." I say, stating the obvious but I need to get my point across. We were lucky there were only four. According to my books and stories from some of father's men draugr like to attack in large groups in very confined spaces.

He points in the opposite way we came from. "Only way. You lead." He mumbles. I turn to look at the "only way", it's a very dark and a very narrow tunnel, we'll have to crouch down inside judging from the low ceiling. I start forward, the man following close behind. We move through the long, uncomfortably low and pitch black tunnel going as fast and as quiet as we can. Even with my heightened senses I'm struggling to see in the darkness in front of us so I can only speculate as to how the man is coping without sight, no matter how temporary it is.

We come to the end of the tunnel after about ten minutes of walking, maybe longer and maybe shorter it's hard to tell down here. Everything has a weird feel to it, like it's all unnatural. Must be the smell and the heavy air. I'm glad I don't need to breathe because the air smells like death. The tunnel leads into a massive well-lit cavern, there's a circle of stairs leading down into a sort of pit like area in the middle, a raised up area in the dead centre. A throne sat in the middle with the limp and lifeless figure of a draugr sat on it. A ceremonial helmet resting on its head, large horns protruding from the top of it. Draugr aimlessly mill around the sides, not seemingly doing anything in particular, just walking.

"Move silently, around the edge." The man whispers in my ear, I nod and follow his lead. Crouching low and gripping the sheath for my knife to stop it hitting into my thigh. The man, wraps his hand around his belt buckle, probably to stop the soft tap it makes when he walks. One of the draugr turns its head slightly, it's blank, emotionless skull examining its surroundings. "Stop." He grumbles quietly, I do as he says, staying perfectly still. He holds his breath. I can see his body tense under his armour. The leather gauntlet cracking as his grip on his buckle tightens. The draugr turns away slowly not noticing anything that shouldn't be there. It walks off slowly, its legs looking like they're struggling to move. He lets out the breath, creating a small cloud of mist. He gestures with his injured hand for me to move and then a moment later he starts on his way again. Me following him closely. We hurry out as quietly as possible, reaching the end of the room, he quickly ducks around checking the surroundings for any signs of the dead.

I quickly, move in front of him, leading us both to another narrow tunnel. This one rough with jagged chunks of rock sticking out of the walls. We hurry through, eager to get away from the "throne room". We exit the tunnel and enter into a cave, there's a fresh breeze from one of the walls, showing that we're near the surface. The man walks over to the wall, and looks around the corner, he gestures to me and I quickly follow him. Finally getting my chance to leave this cave. The mouth of the cave is visible up ahead. It's light out. "This is as far as I can go." I call to his back. He turns around slightly. "For now." I clarify.

He walks back over to me, I sit down on the ground. "Sun light." He grunts, I nod. He brushes a hand through his beard before he sits down opposite me. He leans his head back against the rough cave wall, keeping his eyes on me. "What's that?" He asks, pointing to the Elder Scroll I've been carrying on my back.

I rest my hand on the bottom of it. "Doesn't matter what it is." I tell him, he tilts his head to the side slightly. "It's mine." I tell him. "Serana." I say. He look at me, head still tilted. "You?"

He rests his head back fully, drawing his sword and resting it on his lap. He closes his eyes and puts his left, injured hand on top of the swords blade. "No." He grunts. He takes in a deep breath. I watch as his breathing slows down. "Don't try anything." He grumbles under his breath.

I find myself staring at the dried blood on the side on his face, the bruise forming around his eye, the bloodied rag on his hand. My tongue grazes over my teeth again, moving forward and going over my lips slowly. I look back at the man's face. He still looks angry even when he sleeps.

I need to get back home. Find mother. Find out what's happening. Get rid of this man as soon as he's helped me out of whatever obligation he feels. Maybe it's honour, maybe something else. Maybe because I saved him. Maybe it's out of guilt. Maybe he just doesn't have anything better to do.

Maybe it's just for money.


	4. Volkihar

**Follows, favourites and reviews are appreciated, so if you want to then go ahead. Thanks to everyone who has done any of that and thanks to everyone who's read the story.**

**Word count.**

**Original: 1,406**

**Re-write: 4,012**

* * *

><p>Chapter IV<p>

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><p>Volkihar<p>

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><p>Serana<p>

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><p>We've been walking for hours, luckily we managed to leave the cave just as the sun set so at least we got all the time we could. We walk in silence. The only noise being the dull tapping of his equipment, and the sounds of his boots, I'm walking slightly ahead of him. He still doesn't want to turn his back on me for too long.<p>

The marsh isn't easy to walk in but according to his very brief and grumbled explanation it's the only safe way to get anywhere near Solitude. I slip slightly, grabbing a tree to stop myself from falling in the bog. I glance back at the man, he's stopped walking and instead just watches me get my footing back. I turn back to facing forward, looking in the direction of the shore.

I carry on walking. I glance off to the side, there's a lot of trees scattered about the marshes. The thick mud makes it extremely difficult to walk. I hear a loud grunt and what sounds like the man slipping. I turn to look at him, and he quickly gets back to his feet. He looks up at me.

"See that?" He says, his voice is hoarse. Probably a combination of blood loss and that he hasn't said anything for around three hours. I look at him properly as he walks closer to me. He looks tired, more so then he did in the caves, his eyes are red, bloodshot. He keeps his left hand up, slightly tucked under his belt. There's still blood on his face and there's a lot on his hand, staining the rag on his hand a dark red. He stops a couple of steps in front of me and points up to the top of the cliff where there's a wall and a large building visible over the top.

I follow where he's pointing. I stare at the silhouette of the building, and glance back at him. His gaze is locked on the wall of the city and the building. He leans forward slightly, putting most of his weight on his left leg. "Yes." I answer, looking back at the building.

"Blue palace." He grumbles. I look back at him, he's squinting quite a bit and breathing heavily. He turns to look at me. "If we can see it, we're too close." I raise an eyebrow. He turns back to me. He turns around walking off down a hill. I follow his lead, moving down just behind him. "The Legion don't use the marshes." He grunts, he slips slightly, struggling to regain his footing.

I watch him as he stops moving for a moment and rests his head in his right hand. He lets out a long hoarse breath and closes his eyes. "How do you know the guard routes?" This man is definitely not Dawnguard. Nothing about him makes sense, he turns up in a cave talking about an order whose hatred for vampires is legendary but he shows little interest in killing me for being a vampire. He obviously doesn't like me, never mind trust me but it isn't because I'm a vampire. If it was he would've shot me as soon as he realised I was. Maybe it was to find out information about my family or why I was down there. But he hasn't asked any questions, he doesn't really seem to care. There was the obvious questions about how long I was down there, but when he asked he didn't really seem very interested in my answer.

"Just do." He rasps. He turns his head to look at me. His features shadowed in the moon light under his hood so all I can see is his mouth and beard. His constant short answers are getting frustrating. He seems to talk in as little words as he can, he also seems to expect me to do the same. I've been trying to ask him questions, but he either doesn't answer at all or just says one or two words that just leaves me more confused than I was when I asked.

He begins leading the way now, not caring that his back is to me, he walks slowly. Maybe that's why he was behind me before. Maybe he's tired. He's moving a lot slower now than when we were in the caves. He must've have lost quite a bit of blood by now though, his hand was bleeding heavily when I first saw him and I'm not sure how long it's been but by the smell of it, it's still bleeding. His movements are sluggish, slow and forced. If we got caught by this Legion, he wouldn't stand much of a chance. Although that means I could leave him behind while I escaped.

"Why is Solitude so heavily guarded?" I call out to him, He looks over his shoulder slightly. Probably annoyed he might have to speak again. He's tired, very tired he doesn't even look angry anymore, just annoyed and like he's going to collapse. But it is an important question, whoever is still at home, whether it be father or mother they'll need to know that an Empire has a Legion right next to them. They could be a threat.

He stops looking at me, and instead focuses on what's in front of him. He's not going to answer, I could try asking again but that just seems to make him want to answer less. He staggers slightly, quickly getting his footing back. "Torygg." He mumbles. Is that my answer? Has he finished talking? "Worried about Stormcloaks." He finishes in a low grumble.

Stormcloaks? Another army? Maybe a group of assassins, of cut throats. They sound like that's what they could be. The man doesn't seem very inclined to add any further information, instead he just carries on with walking. I want to ask about the Stormcloaks but at this point it's like trying to draw blood from a rock.

I look up at the large city, its high walls silhouetted against the moon light. The figures of sentries only just visible to my eye so the man must not be able to see them at all. "Are we safe down here?" I ask, he shakes his head. Great, now he's just stopped talking all together. "Will the sentries see us?" I add, looking back to the walls. There's no answer and we carrying on walking in silence for a few minutes.

"No." He rasps, I look at his back. He doesn't want to elaborate and I don't really want him to. His answers just leave more to the imagination and if he doesn't want to talk then I won't make him. He seems perfectly content in trying to imagine me not being here. It's the only explanation I can think of as to why he doesn't look at me, doesn't bother speaking to me. Even when he has to.

I look around the marshes. If the sentries won't see us then what's the danger? I walk quicker to catch up until I'm walking beside him. If we get attacked I'd be more then capable of handling myself but the man knows what he's looking for and I have no idea at all. As far as I know he could be lying to me about there being any sort of danger at all. He glances at me, I can see him properly now, he's a lot more pale then he was. Almost dead looking. I almost start to feel sorry for him.

It looks like the walk is taking every little bit of energy he has left. I'll stop trying to get him to talk, unless I need to. He might not like me at all, but I suppose I do owe him to some extent for freeing me. Even if he didn't know he was freeing me and even if he regrets it. At least he didn't shoot me as soon as I came out of that prison.

I take a quick look around the marsh. There's nothing around of any note, just trees half sunken into the water and the slight incline of some of the mud. It's not the easiest to walk in but I'm managing fine now that I've gotten used to it. The man keeps slipping, every few feet or so. I look down at his boots, he's barely lifting his feet. Must be too tired.

"We're almost there." I tell him quietly. He nods slightly, raising his head and looking like he just developed a lot more resolve then he had before. He best try and pull himself together somewhat. We're about to walk into a room full of vampires and he's bleeding quite a lot. If he looks weak odds are they'll attack him.

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><p>We walk the rest of the way in an uncomfortable silence, I don't bother trying to talk to him and he doesn't even bother looking at me. I take another glace at him, he still looks tired, like he's going to fall over any minute but at least now he looks like he's more determined. I look forward again, now we're next to the shore, just walking along the side. I can see the island in the distance. The large fortress easily visible from this distance.<p>

The sun is slowly rising in the distance. If we weren't so close to Icewater jetty then we'd need to find shelter, well at least I would. I doubt the man would stick around and wait for the sun to set. Provided there's actually a boat waiting for us. Then hopefully we can make it across to the island before the sun rises above the mountains. They'll be no cover at all once we're on a boat. If the sun rises fully while we're half way across then that's it. At least for me.

I look at the man as the jetty comes into sight. There's a boat tied up, a couple of ores in the bottom. The man looks slightly relieved. I go ahead of him and climb into the boat, putting the Elder Scroll down flat in the bottom. I sit down and pull the ores up to rest on the sides of the boat.

The man steps onto the very small dock and picks up the rope. He tries to untie the knot, obviously getting frustrated with not being able to do it. He grumbles something as he shakes the rope slightly, he puts one foot in the boat and pulls his dagger out, putting it against the rope and starting to cut. The rope breaks into two and he pulls his other foot into the boat. Sitting down heavily.

I glance down at the Elder Scroll, it's covered up with a thick woollen blanket. I look at the man, he follows my gaze and glances down at the Elder Scroll. He doesn't say anything but he's probably still curious as to what it is. Although he hasn't asked since the first and last time. I put my foot on top of it, he might try and steal it and mother said we'd need it. Why didn't she come back for it?

Why didn't she come back for me?

He picks up the ores sliding them into place and holding them up. "You row." He grumbles, the first time he's spoken in about an hour. I grab the ores out of his hands, and position them better. I look at him, he leans back and rests his left hand on his lap. Right, his hand will make it difficult for him to row. He leans back against the side of the boat, pulling his hood down and closing his eyes.

He opens his eyes after a few minutes, looking over my shoulder at the proud structure just beyond the boat. His eyes flicker back to me. Before he looks down at his hand, unwrapping the rag and leaving it lying on his knee, he quickly pulls off his gauntlet. Flinching as it pulls at the wound. His hand is covered in both fresh and dry blood. I look down at his hand. The wound is bad, really bad. A stab wound all the way through his hand, his two middle fingers look like they've been pushed apart. There's a silver ring on one of his fingers, his ring finger, a sapphire sitting in the metal. It too is covered in blood. He pulls his pack around and pulls another rag out, dunking it in the water and then using it too clean his hand. The ring first.

I stare at the blood covered rag sitting on his knee, my tongue grazing my teeth at the sight of it. How long as it been since I've fed. "Been awhile." He mumbles. I look up at his face, he's squinting at me. I raise an eyebrow at him. "Since you fed." I glare at him a bit. "You keep staring at it."

I look out at the water, glance at him from the corner of my eye. He pulls his gauntlet back on and ties the cleaner rag around his hand. Getting it as tight as he can. He leans his head back. Of course now would be the time he gets talkative, when he's accusing me of not having any self-control when it comes to blood. His hand strays to his dagger and now he thinks I'm going to attack him.

I glance to the side again. "You tired?" I ask as he lets his head fall back slightly. We're just over half way across, I look over my shoulder at the island. Volkihar. Father didn't build the castle but by the way he talks about the fortress you'd think he had.

He sighs heavily. Moving his hand away from his dagger. "No." He grunts. It's a lie. He hasn't done a very good job at hiding it at all. I glance back at his hand, forcing myself to look away. I might not like him but he probably doesn't deserve to be attacked like that. At least I hope he doesn't.

The boat runs into the bank, slowing to a stop in the wet sand and gravel. The waves pushing us just a bit more onto the shore. The man climbs out and starts to pull the boat onto the beach. I climb out at the front and start to pull, quickly getting it completely out of the water.

This is it. Time to find out if my mother or my father stayed and took the power they both craved. I look at the man, he pulls the ores up and drops them back into the boat. He walks over to where I'm standing, facing the opposite shore line. Solitudes still visible, I used to stand here and look across at Solitude. Imagining what wonders waited in Skyrim, I knew about the infighting between the different holds. But it would've been nice to see Skyrim beyond the very limited view of Solitude from the beach. The man stands in front of me, tilting his head to the side. I wonder how much of Tamriel he's seen, he doesn't speak with a Nordic accent so he's at least come from somewhere else. Maybe Cyrodiil or High Rock.

I turn away from Solitude, no point digging up old wishes. At least not when I need answers. I start to walk towards the raised up stone bridge that leads to the keep, the iron-gate is down to protect the solid wooden doors. I turn to face the man who's following a couple of feet behind me. "Before we go in there."

He stops moving. Looking annoyed, frustrated, tired and angry he replies. "What now?" He grinds out between his tightly clenched jaw. His attitude annoys me, I didn't force him to come all this way I asked and he agreed. He didn't have to, he didn't even have to free me from that coffin. He could've thrown me to the draugr but no he insisted on coming all this way. He can listen to what I have to say.

"I just wanted to thank you for helping me get this far." I snap at him, he just looks even angrier then he did before. "After this I won't be your problem." I turn on my heel, storming towards the gate. The man follows after a couple of steps. I hear him grumble something about a mistake and a journal.

"Open the gates!" The unseen watchman shouts, he sounds old from the sounds of his voice. The slight halt to his words as he shouts, probably another thrall. This doesn't help with trying to determine who's in power here. Both mother and father kept thralls. "Lady Serana is back!" The voice shouts after a few beats of silence.

The large iron-gate starts to rise into the large arched wall. Dust and small pieces of stone falling from the gap in the wall. I turn to face the man. "Let me do the talking." I tell him, he doesn't nod or really give any indication that he heard me. The gate finally comes to a grinding halt, spilling more pieces of small rubble on to the floor in front of me.

One half of the doors slowly swings open, the tightening of a rope can be heard over the hinges crying out in protest against the movement. The inside of the keep is just about pitch black, I look out to the side, the sun is slowly rising now it's only just visible over the mountains in the far distance.

There's heavy footsteps. Solid boots, armoured. The silhouette of a man comes into view. Illuminated by the light from the main hall. An elf, two deep red glowing eyes. "How dare you trespass here." A snide voice, a condescending tone. The elf steps fully into view. "Wait Serana. Is that truly you?" Vingalmo steps closer. "I cannot believe my eyes." He turns quickly walking to the balcony at the top of the stairs overlooking the hall. "My lord! Everyone! Lady Serana has returned!" Vingalmo goes down the steps quickly.

My lord? That means it must be father. Then where's mother? Did she return? Is she dead? The man, steps in front of me slightly, going over to the balcony and looking over the edge. I watch him for a few seconds as he leans against the solid carved stone and rests his left arm on top of it. He glances at me, as I take a slow step onto the top of the stairs.

The main hall is deadly silent, not even a whisper. I take a few more steps down the stairs, all of them slow. Father stands up from his seat and walks towards the centre of the room. "My long lost daughter returns at last." He announces, he stares at me as if I'm a traitor, then his stare relaxes slightly and he holds his arms out slightly. "I trust you have my Elder scroll?"

I stop walking and stare at his face. He doesn't look concerned about me at all, he looks at me as if I'm a stranger. "All this time and that's the first thing you ask?" He takes a step forward and glares at me, I look away from him and glance to the floor. "Yes, I have the scroll."

He smiles, one of those sickly smiles. "Of course I'm delighted to see you my daughter. Must I really say the words aloud?" He looks around the hall, at the rest of the occupants. "Ah, if only your traitor mother were here." He says, looking back at me. "I'd let her witness this reunion before putting her head on a pike." The room laughs, father looks up to the top of the steps, at the man. "I see you've brought a stranger to my home. Now tell me who is he?"

I follow his gaze and look at the man, he pushes his body away from the railing and starts to walk around to the top of the steps. Vingalmo following close behind. "This is my saviour." I gesture to him as he takes a couple of steps down the stairs, Vingalmo stops at the top of the stairs and watches his every movement. "The one who freed me."

The man finally gets to the bottom of the steps and walks towards us, stopping a few feet away from father and me. "For my daughters safe return you have my thanks." Father eyes his hand wound, then his gaze flickers up to his split eyebrow. "I see you're injured." The man clenches his left hand, curling it into a fist, the leather creaking. Father grins. "Tell me, what is your name?"

There's a deep silence as everyone in the hall waits for an answer, the man and my father are glaring at each other. "You first." The man finally answers breaking the silence, the hall erupts into low murmurs. I look at father, he looks furious.

"Very well." Father says, he looks away from the man and back at me. "I am Harkon lord of this court." He spread his arms wide, gesturing to the large hall. "Now tell me your name." He says lowly, dangerously.

The man thinks about it for a minute, his eyes flicker to mine. "Mortis."

Father grins again, I stare at the man. Mortis? That's the native language of Cyrodiil. It's also not a name. "By now I trust my daughter has told you what we are." Father circles him, no not him, us. Like a predator closing in on its kill.

Mortis never takes his eyes off of father, watching his every movement. "Vampires." He answers gruffly, seemingly sticking to his short grunted answers he gave me.

Father smirks to himself as he continues to circle us. "Amongst the oldest and most powerful in Tamriel." He stops moving, standing between Mortis and the stairs.

"What happens now?" I interrupt looking between Mortis and my father. Father turns his gaze away from Mortis and stares at me.

"He must be rewarded. There is but one gift I can bestow equal in value to the Elder scroll and my daughter." He walks around, stopping behind me and putting his hands on my shoulders. "I offer you my blood." He tells Mortis, he doesn't give any indication that he's really even heard father. "Take it and walk as a wolf amongst sheep. Men will tremble before you and you may never fear death again." Father finishes. Mortis stares at him, not answering.

"What if I refuse?" Mortis asks, leaning his weight onto his right leg and tucking his left hand under his belt.

"I will spare your life this once, you will be banished from this island. After that you are prey like all mortals." He leans forward slightly, over my shoulder. "Make your choice." I glance at him out of the corner of my eye. His deep red glare is locked directly on Mortis.

"I refuse." He grumbles. I stare at the man for a few seconds. He refuses? Refuses all this power? He'd live forever. Never fear mortality.

Father sighs slightly. "Very well. I must say I am disappointed." He summons a spell in his right hand, a deep purple and black surrounding his hand, it illuminates his face. Making him look a lot more threatening. "I banish you!" father casts the spell, enveloping Mortis in a cloud of smoke and purple flames.

He's gone when in clears, only a black ring on the ground where he was.

Father takes his hands off my shoulders and begins to walk away. I turn to watch his back as he walks towards the back of the fortress. "Bring me my Elder Scroll." He calls back without looking at me I follow without question, glancing back at where Mortis was a few seconds ago.

Now only a ring of soot and ash.


	5. Help

**Follows, favourites and reviews are appreciated, so if you want to then go ahead. Thanks to everyone who has done any of that and thanks to everyone who's read the story.**

**Word count.**

**Original: 1,602**

**Re-write: 5,738**

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><p>Chapter V<p>

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><p>Help<p>

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><p>Mortis<p>

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><p>I untie the rag. Red staining the majority of the previously white material. I put the torn piece of cloth down next to me on the log. I pull my gauntlet off slowly, the tight leather pulls at the wound, making a sharp pain go through my hand. There's blood on my hand, not as much as last time but more then I would've preferred. I reach over to my side and throw another couple of sticks onto the fire.<p>

There's rustling from the trees, I look up at the treeline. The rustling abruptly stops. My right hand strays to my dagger, keeping my left hand propped up on my lap. The sun light makes it easy to see around the woods, meaning that if I did get attacked it'd be more likely that I'd actually have to fight. Can't hide in the dark if there isn't any.

I turn my attention back to the wound on my hand, wiping some of the blood away from the stab wound. It's stopped bleeding for the most part, still bleeding here and there but nothing compared to what it was. I carefully wipe the blood off my ring, the silver shinning slightly after it's uncovered from the blood. I lean back on the log, letting myself relax.

I pull my pack around to the front of the log and pull out the small rabbit. Holding it up by its legs, its limp neck swinging slightly as I lift it up. It's not that big, even as far as rabbits go but it's better than nowt. I lay it down on the log, securing the rag around my hand. I turn back to my dinner and start to skin it as best I can.

The fire crackles loudly in the silent forest, I put another few sticks on it, stoking the flames with my sword. There's a rustling again, I turn my head to face the direction it came from. Nothing. I quickly sort the rabbit out, putting the carcass on a stick and placing it above the fire, turning it every now and then to try and cook it even close to evenly.

The closest hold that's even an option right now would be Dawnstar and even they're being watchful about who comes and goes. I need to get back to the sanctuary, sort out my wound. Talk to Nazir. He and Babette probably think I'm dead by now. I can't even remember how long it's been since I've been back, a year, two years.

I can still hear the whispers. The icy fingers on my spine. The spiders under my skin.

I still need to head back to Fort Dawnguard though. Get my pay from Isran. I suppose he'll probably want to know about the Elder Scroll that Harkon has, he might even pay more for that little piece of information. I pull the rabbit away from the fire and start to pull pieces off of it.

I was within reach of an Elder Scroll all that time and I only questioned it once. That woman, that vampire lead me to a fortress filled with vampires and their thralls and I just went along with it. What was I expecting, she said it was her home. Maybe somewhere in the back of my head I expected a brothel.

That Harkon didn't really seem to care for his daughter, all though maybe he does just doesn't show it. It's not my problem though, none of this is. If vampires do take over Skyrim like Isran said they could, I don't believe they could, the sun would prevent that I could just lock myself in the sanctuary. We've done it before.

There's that rustling again, I look in the direction its coming from and grab my dagger. I put the piece of the rabbit down that I was eating. A woman steps out of the brush, fur armour on her body, a recurve bow held low and an arrow lazily nocked. She looks at me, she's got blonde hair, blue eyes a pretty but hard face. "You alright there?" She calls in a Nordic accent, she looks to the side slightly.

I sit in silence and pull the piece of meat back up, continuing with my small meal. I chew the meat in silence while she watches me. Pulling back on the arrow slightly. I finish chewing the meat and pull out my water skin to wash it down. She watches my movements carefully. "Fine." I grumble, she lets out a small, short, shallow breath.

"I saw you through the trees…" She starts, she trails off as I turn my attention back to the rabbit, pulling another chunk of meat from it. "I saw the blood, thought I should check…" She stops talking as I look back up at her, chewing the meat very slowly. "I'll leave you to it." She mumbles going to turn away. "Word of warning." She starts, looking back at me. "Bears in these parts."

I stand up, she readies herself, adjusting her weight and pulling back on the arrow sharply. I finish off the chunk of meat and start to kick some dirt onto the fire to snuff the flames. She's still watching me closely. "I'll keep that in mind." I say to her, turning my back on her and collecting my pack, and the rest of my equipment. I tuck my torn gauntlet into my belt and pull another piece of meat from the rabbit carcass.

The woman looks at me strangely. I walk past her, slightly brushing her shoulder with mine. I can feel her eyes on my back as I walk away, heading in the direction of my long since abandoned home and duty.

There's the whispers in my skull, I can't tell what they're saying but I know they're telling me to go home.

Come home.

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><p>Dawnstar is a cesspool of shit and disease. The constant trade with the other provinces coming through this modest port town, and the close quarters living of the sailors and the inhabitants making disease spread fast. They pick something up somewhere else, spread it amongst the crew and then when they get back half the hold has it.<p>

But it's home, or at least as close to home as I'm ever going to get. I haven't had a home in a long time. I walk past a man, dirty faced and coughing up his lungs. He asks if I have any coin to spare, I ignore him. There's shouting from one of the nearby boats, I can't tell what they're shouting about but it's loud and irritating. A man and a woman are arguing just outside the inn, something about a whore and ten septims.

My boots are loud against the dock as I walk onto it to avoid another elderly sick man who looks like his going to fall dead any moment. I walk past the brothel, many nights spent there. Many nights kicking someone's teeth in there. Some of the guards watch me closely as I walk past, I don't know if it's the Empire or the Stormcloaks they hate and I don't really care. They're both just as bad as each other.

I finally get out of the town and onto the beaches, it's not much better though. The thick black, clumped gravel that makes up the "beach" crumbles under my boots. The rough waves lapping violently at the shore. It always seems dark here even when it's not. Must be the smoke and soot from all the coal burners in the town, creating a thick dark cloud that lingers over the town constantly.

I walk over to where the large, ebony door is. The dark metal locked tight unless you're part of the family. I press my fingers against the metal. The locking mechanism shifts out of place loudly. I can hear the whispers again. Welcome home. I walk into the sanctuary, it's mostly the same as I remember it being. Nothing really of note.

I walk to the main hall, if you can call it that it's really just a more open room then the rest of the sanctuary, I stop at the top of the steps. There's some younger initiates, faces I don't recognise. They watch me carefully as I walk down the steps, I stop in front of them. "Nazir?" I ask, walking closer to one of them.

"In the chambers." She answers, pointing to the far wall. The torture chambers. I nod and start to walk in the direction of the chambers. The floor descends slightly, dropping a few feet. There's a loud scream, echoing through the sanctuary.

I walk into the chamber. Nazirs stood with another one of the initiates, the young man turns to look at me as I walk in. Nazir's too occupied with what he's doing. The initiate watches me, as I walk over to one of the victims, crouching down and inspecting the unconscious woman's face. I turn my attention back to the initiate. "Leave." I grumble out, he does as I tell him, quickly making his way out of the room.

"Ah." Nazir says walking over, I stand up so I can face him properly. "You're alive brother." He says with a small smirk. "We were starting to wonder." I shake his hand, nodding as he talks. "Me and Babette that is, the younger ones don't really know who you are." He mumbles, taking a couple of steps back. He turns back to what had his attention, a man shackled to the wall, a long fresh scar running down his body.

"Been awhile." I grumble, leaning against the wall. I put my hands in front of me, left over right. "How long?" I ask as he roughly slaps the man's face.

He looks back at me, thinking for a few seconds. "Two years, or just under." He stands back up and starts to walk to the main hall. "Too long." He mumbles under his breath. "Any work?" He asks, sitting down at one of the table, the initiates quickly make themselves scarce.

I sit down at the table as well, opposite him. "Here and there." I answer. I put my hands on the table. "Ever heard of the Dawnguard?" I ask him, he sits there for a moment, leaning back in his chair and stroking a hand through his beard.

"Hmm." He grumbles lowly. "Murmurs, here and there." He looks at me. "Who are they?" He asks, looking at one of the initiates as they walk through the hall towards the entrance. He quickly turns his full attention back on me, waiting for an answer.

"They hunt vampires." I tell him, leaning back slightly and pulling my hood down. "They wanted me to do a job for them." I add, looking up at the ceiling. "Five thousand septims."

Nazir nods to himself. "That a good walk away." He mumbles, he sits forward again. There's a brief silence as he picks up a tankard from the table and takes a quick gulp. "What's the job?"

I lean forward in my chair, picking up one of the tankards and tipping it over slightly to see what's inside, it's half empty and looks like some ale. I take a quick swig. "Already done it." I answer. "Hands buggered." I grumble, putting my left hand down on the table to show him. "Figured there might be someone who can sort this." I tell him.

"I can." I turn around to face Babette, her black eyes staring into my own green ones. "Easily sorted." She adds, she gestures for me to follow her. I quickly drink the rest of the ale and follow her closely. She walks up the steps to the top of the perch. The poisoners nook. "So then, what do you want?" She says sitting down in a chair, I sit on the chair opposite her.

I don't answer straight away. "My wants and needs are leagues apart." I tell her, I put my hand down on the table and she starts crushing some different leaves and herbs together in a mortar. We sit in silence, I glance to the side at the large iron and bronze coffin.

"You still hear the whispers?" She asks, I look at her. She's sat waiting for me to unwrap my wound, I slowly unwrap the rag, the threads pulling at the torn skin around the wound. She starts to do her thing with the strange dark brown paste she's made. "They don't normally live as long as you have." She mumbles. "Must be because you've been shirking your duties."

I flinch slightly as she rubs the paste around the wound. "I've never shirked my duties." I argue. She starts to use one of her restoration spells on the wound.

She looks up at me. "Yes you have." She says staring at me, I look to the side. "You were meant to be here leading the brotherhood." She says. She pauses and I look back at her. "You were too busy at the brothel." She carries on with her spell. "Now you've come back because you need help." She finishes, she stops casting the spell and leans back in her chair.

I stand up from the chair, looking at the fresh scar on my hand. I pull my gauntlet out from under my belt, pulling it back on. "I'll be back if I need owt." I grumble to her, leaning down. She frowns slightly and I start to walk away back to the entrance. I rest my now healed left hand on my dagger as I walk up the stairs. There's a small wooden table, a wooden recurve bow and a quiver of iron headed arrows, I quickly take them. Never know if I'll need them.

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><p>I walk up to the fort. The Dawnguard watch me closely, crossbows trained on me as I walk along the dirt path. I look up to some of the "soldiers", most of them are kids with armour and axes. If they get attacked by vampires I don't think most of them would survive, one of them at the newly built wooden gate looks no older then seventeen.<p>

"Halt!" He shouts to me, pulling up his crossbow and keeping it aimed on my chest. He shakes slightly as I take a step forward. He's young, his armour looks too big for him and he looks like he's only just learnt how to use that crossbow. He's holding it wrong. He's got blonde hair and looks like he's trying to grow a beard.

"Agmaer!" Durak shouts walking towards the young Nord. He stops a few feet away from him, his arms are full of firewood. "He's an ally." He grumbles to the Nord, Agmaer. Durak gives the firewood to Agmaer and turns to face me. "Isran will want to speak with you." He tells me. "He's at the keep doors." He says, gesturing to the large fort.

I nod to him as I walk through the gates, they've been busy building new fortifications all though most of them are made of wood, probably so they could get them up quickly. I pass quite a few more of the Dawnguard the majority of them don't have complete sets of armour and even more of them don't even have the proper weapons that the "real" Dawnguard use.

They look like they're building a pyre and digging graves. Isran walks down the steps to meet me on the path. "What happened?" I ask as he gets closer.

Isran grumbles something under his chest. "Attacked." He grumbles, he walks over to three bodies covered with white sheets. "Vampires came while we were training the new volunteers." He crouches down and pulls the sheet from the bodies. They have bite marks on their necks. "The old order believed that the body reanimated after death." He says, wiping the back of his hand against his beard.

I walk up behind him and look down. "Believed?" I question, he looks up at me.

"Yes." He grinds out. "Believed." He stands back up and walks over to a cart, pulling out an axe, one you normally use to cut firewood. "They didn't write it down, or if they did the information is long lost to us." He tilts his head slightly. "We know how to prevent reanimation though." He walks over to the bodies and raises the axe. He swings it down onto the first body's neck, severing the head from the body. "You remove the head." He grumbles, moving along to the next body. I just watch him. He does the same thing, and then steps to the last body. "And burn it." He finishes the job, removing the last body's head.

He picks up two of the heads, dropping the now bloodied axe on the floor. I walk over and pick up the last head. "Thought the pyre was too small." I mumble as he throws his two on top of the short wooden structure I follow his lead and put the one I was carrying on top.

He walks over and turns one of the bodies over. "What did you find in Dimhollow?" He asks, grabbing the corpse's arms.

I walk over and grab the legs helping him lift the body. "A woman." I answer, he looks up at me raising an eyebrow. We drop the first body in one of the graves, facing down. "She was in a crypt."

Isran walks back over to the bodies, turning the next one over and we repeat the same actions. "It was a vampire?" I nod in answer to his question. "Did you kill it?" He asks, we carry the body to the second grave and drop it in, face down. I shake my head. He stops walking and crosses his arms. "Why not?"

I look at him. "Figured you'd want to know more." I tell him. "She wanted to go home." I say to him, he raises an eyebrow and goes back over to the third and final corpse.

"So where is this home?" Isran grumbles, obviously hating the situation.

We pick up the body, hefting the weight. "Island near Solitude." I answer. We carry the body over to the graves, dropping it in. "A castle, a big one." I tell him. "The leader, Harkon is in command of quite a large force as well." Isran nods to himself. He walks back over to the cart. "They also have an Elder Scroll." I call to him.

He stands with his back to me. He hangs his head slightly. He stays like that for a couple of minutes before he turns around and walks back over to me, he hands me an iron stake and a hammer and throws another stake into the middle grave. "Through the back of the chest." He mumbles as he walks to the first grave and climbs in. I walk to the third one and place the iron stake against the back of the corpse and start to hammer it in. dark blood pools around the stake as I hammer it in. I climb out of the grave as soon I'm done and walk over to Isran who's in the middle grave finishing off. "We'll need help." He says, looking up at me.

He climbs out of the grave and walks back over to the cart, grabbing a shovel. Only the one. He starts to fill in the graves. "That right?" I ask as he grunts heavily throwing dirt on top of the corpse.

"I need you to find Sorine Jurard." He tells me, looking at me briefly to see if I'm even listening. "Breton girl, whip smart." He pauses as he throws more dirt into the grave. "Good with… tinkering, fascination with Dwemer weapons." He stops and leans against the shovel, frowning slightly as he thinks. "I also need you to find Gunmar, big brute of a Nord." He starts filling the graves again. "Hates vampires, almost as much as I do." He puts the shovel in the dirt and leans on it again. "Got it in his head a few years back that his experience with animals might help" He pushes away from the shovel. "Trolls from what I hear."

He picks the tool back up, pulling it free from the dirt and starts to fill in the graves again. I watch him for a few seconds. "That's all well and good." I mumble, catching his attention. "But you still haven't paid me for that other job." I remind him.

He grunts, obviously he was expecting me to agree to help as soon as I saw the bodies. "They'll be one hundred more septims in it for you." He grumbles.

I smirk slightly. I can get more out of him, if he had people to spare he'd send them not pay me to do it. "One hundred and fifty." I say, he looks up sharply. I probably could've asked for more, but I don't want to bleed him dry. Yet.

"Deal." He grunts, putting his hand out for me to shake.

I shake his hand. "I'll find your man." I tell him. "And woman." I take a step back. "Where should I start looking?" I ask, he lets a small grin spread on his lips.

* * *

><p>Isran's directions were about as unclear as they could be. Gunmar's somewhere in the wilderness probably close to the Cyrodiil border. This is a big forest and just being pointed in the direction and being told to find someone isn't exactly the most efficient way of finding someone. Apparently Durak knows these people, probably would've been quicker to send him. After all he found me in a Stormcloak prison.<p>

Although there are ways to work with vague information, luckily enough I've been away from Falkreath long enough that they don't remember me at all. They probably would if I reminded them but I don't really want to be chased out of the town. They said a large Nord came through two days ago, looking for a bear which apparently has been terrorising the locals or something equally as daft.

Apparently the good, kind, hardy folk of Falkreath can't kill one bear.

There's a man up ahead. Scaled armour, a battle axe. Long hair and a long red beard. He's got quite a lot of scars on his arms and the part of his back that I can see. He crouches down and runs his fingers through the mud. I walk up behind him. Not bothering to be quiet.

"You Gunmar?!" I call to him, he turns around slowly, standing up to his full height. Isran wasn't lying when he said he was big. He's massive. He takes a step forward.

"That depends on who you are friend." He answers, walking closer to me. He rests his hand on a long steel knife at his waist.

I lean up against a tree. "Isran sent me." I tell him, he looks taken aback momentarily. "Said he needed your help." I add, if he didn't look taken aback before then he does now.

He laughs lowly, a deep chuckle. "Isran?" He pauses as he laughs, it's a humourless sound. "Needing help?" He leans his hand against a tree. "I'm afraid he's a few years too late. I've moved on friend." He turns around, heading in the direction of a large cave. "I've more important things."

I push away from the tree and follow him for a few steps. "Vampires." I call to his back. He stops walking and so do I, he half turns to face me. "Isran, seems to think it's a big problem."

Gunmar sneers slightly. "He always thinks it's a big problem." He fully turns to face me now. "If he could get past his blind hatred he might actually leave something longer lasting than a trail of bodies in his wake." He takes a step back. "It would have to be big to get me to go anywhere near that man." He adds quietly.

I don't say anything for a few minutes. What does he mean by a trail of bodies in his wake? Isran doesn't seem like the most rational, but to willingly sacrifice his men? He doesn't seem like that kind of man. "They have an Elder Scroll." I tell him, as always I choose the easy, more travelled road. Ignorance is bliss maybe I can fool myself into believing that one day.

He nods his head. "I can't just drop my duties here." He says after a few moments of solid nodding. "These people came to me for help, I have to fulfil that promise."

I lean back my weight onto my right leg. "This that bear?" I ask, he nods again. "It in that cave?" I ask, pointing over his shoulder, he follows my finger and solemnly nods. "I'll kill your bear." I grumble.

"Right." He replies. "Where is Isran? Hall of the vigilants?" He asks quickly, we start walking to the cave, him slightly in front of me.

I shake my head. "Fort Dawnguard, near Riften." I tell him, he stops at the mouth of the cave.

"Aye, I've been there before, back in the day." He grumbles, looking into the cave. "The bear should be in there." He claps his hand on my shoulder. "I'll meet you at Fort Dawnguard." He mumbles walking away, back in the direction of Falkreath.

I swing my bow around and slowly nock an arrow. I step into the cave, pausing to let my eyes adjust to the sudden darkness. The cave itself leads into a larger cavern. It's flooded with at least two foot of water, a slightly raised stone platform in the middle. A large brown bear laying down on top. The mauled body of a Bosmer to the left of the platform, half lying in the shallow water just on the edge.

I crouch down, slightly. Lifting the bow and sliding the nocked arrow back slowly. I aim at the bear, the wood creaks with the tension from the weight I'm using to pull. The bear's ear twitches slightly, it raises its head slowly. I whistle loudly to get its attention, it turns to face me and I release the arrow. It sails forward into the bear's nose, slicing through the soft flesh and slamming into the hard bone, splitting it with a deafening crack.

The bear's head drops down and the body spasms for a few seconds before falling limp and stiff. Blood pools around the bottom of its head and I swing the bow back around to secure on my back. I turn to leave the cave, glancing back at the still warm body of the bear. The creature I just killed for preying on those lower on the food chain.

For following its instincts.

For feeding.

* * *

><p>According to Isran, Sorine Jurard is in the reach. What she's doing in the reach he left rather vague but judging by what he told me about her, it'll probably have something to do with the Dwemer. I walk along the ruins, out of all the ones in the reach these are the most easily accessible and the least searched.<p>

There's a large stone and bronze pillar sticking out of the ground, the faces of the Dwemer that they so proudly put onto the majority of their architecture. The bronze is weathered and aged, mostly green from the exposure to the elements. All though for all their technological advancements the Dwemer never seemed to master working with Steel or even Iron.

There's a woman digging around in the mud around the pillar. She's around the same age as Isran, although by the looks of it a few years younger. I walk over to her, she's mumbling to herself. Not sure what about, something about mud crabs.

"Sorine Jurard?" I call once I get within a few feet of her. She turns to look at me.

She tilts her head to the side slightly, looking at me strangely. "Have you seen a bag around?" She asks, frowning in concentration. "Somebody must've stolen it." She mumbles to herself, reaching for a hatchet. She turns away from me.

"What's in the bag?" I ask her, watching her movements concerning the hatchet. She curls her fingers around the handle.

"Dwemer gyros." She answers shortly, pulling the axe closer to her, she starts to talk so that I don't notice the movement.

"If I was going to kill and rob you." I rasp, interrupting her. "I would've done it when your back was turned." She moves the axe away slightly. "When you reached for that hatchet." I say, she pushes it away again.

She turns to face me again, now seemingly not caring about the bag of gyros and the mudcrabs. "What do you want?" She stands up, still holding the hatchet at her side.

"Isran sent me." I tell her. She opens her mouth to say something, but I lift my hand up to stop her. I want to get paid and talking to Isran's estranged friends is just prolonging that. "Said he needed your help." I add, dropping my hand back to my side.

She smirks slightly. "Isran doesn't need any help, he told me so himself, last time his "Dawnguard" was killed in that raid." She shakes her head, the smirk dropping, probably remembering this botched raid. Isran hasn't said anything about casualties, except for the three at the fort. If there has been another group that's now buried upside down somewhere then all the more reason to leave as soon as I can. "And if its vampires again then just remind him that I purposed three scenarios where vampires had the potential to overrun the population." She finishes.

"Elder Scroll." I simply tell her. She looks confused for a few seconds. "What that one of your scenarios?" I ask her, I'm getting bored of the so vampire hunters refusing to hunt vampires.

She quickly opens her mouth and closes it again just as quickly. "I…" She starts but doesn't finish. "Where does he want to meet?" She asks. "That was not something I would've aver anticipated, Isran is right in thinking that he might need help." She pauses for another few seconds. "At the very least I'll know what the threat is."

I take a couple of steps back. "Fort Dawnguard." I tell her, she nods. "Near Riften." I clarify, she nods again this time with more confidence. I should head back now, maybe ask Isran about this raid that by the sounds of it went wrong. Maybe I should start asking questions.

* * *

><p>I walk up the dirt path, Sorine is just up ahead, and Gunmar is waiting outside the doors. He sees Sorine and seems reasonably happy to see her. Maybe he just thinks that the more help Isran's gone to get the bigger the problem. Or maybe they know a lot more about Isran and the Dawnguard then I'll ever know.<p>

Sorine gets to the doors and Gunmar pushes one of them open, they walk through and I follow closely behind, always a few feet away. The chamber is the same as it was last time I was here, only cleaned up somewhat. The barrels that were stacked against the wall are gone and in their place a small stack of crates. There's iron-gates down at the three entry ways. Gunmar and Sorine are stood in the middle of the room, they look around slightly. I step towards them and a fourth and final iron-gate slams down behind me, cutting us off from the only exit.

Gunmar looks around slowly, he looks enraged. "All right Isran!" He shouts walking around in a broad circle, pushing against one of the gates. "You've got us here! What do you want?!" He shouts into the seemingly empty fort.

"Hold it!" A voice shouts from the shadows in the balcony above, Isran's gravelly voice. "Right there." He grumbles to himself, the sound carrying in the silence of the fort.

A bright light starts to glow around us, golden in colour, painful to look at. "What are you doing?" Sorine demands almost immediately.

"Making sure you're not vampires!" Isran shouts back at her. "Can't be too careful!" He adds, almost as an afterthought. The glowing continues, getting stronger and brighter before it just abruptly stops.

Isran is silent for a while, not bothering to say anything. Gunmar looks at Sorine and then glances back at me. "Well!?" He shouts, keeping his eyes on me.

"Welcome to Fort Dawnguard!" He announces, finally stepping into view. "I'm sure you've heard a bit of what we're up against!" He calls down to them. "Powerful vampires, unlike anything I've seen before!" He shouts, they don't bother answering or even acknowledging that they've heard him. "They have an Elder Scroll!" He tells them, trying to provoke an answer from them.

"That's all well and good." Sorine answers back, not bothering to shout like the other two. "But do we actually know anything about what they're doing?" She questions, Isran doesn't have an answer. I didn't and I told him everything he knows.

Isran grumbles something under his breath, unheard to us at the bottom. "Get acquainted with the space." He tells them both, seemingly abandoning his shouting and trying to collect himself somewhat. "Sorine, there's room for you to start working on that crossbow design." He tells her, she nods slowly, looking frustrated at the lack of an answer. "Gunmar, there should be room for you to pen up some trolls, get them armoured and ready for use." He tells the Nord, he just grumbles out a short answer.

The iron gates slowly lift up back into the walls, the chains clanking loudly. "Aye." Gunmar, grumbles leaving the room as soon as he can, ducking under the gate slightly. Sorine just follows him, mumbling something about her design as she leaves.

"And you." Isran says, leaning on the balcony wall and pointing down at me. "We're going to get to the bottom of why a vampire showed up here looking for you." He tells me, looking down on me. "Let's have a chat with it." He pushes away from the wall slightly, tilting his head as he looks at me. "Shall we?"


	6. Common Enemy

**Follows, favourites and reviews are appreciated, so if you want to then go ahead. Thanks to everyone who has done any of that and thanks to everyone who's read the story.**

**Word count.**

**Original: 1,700**

**Re-write: 4,718**

* * *

><p>Chapter VI<p>

* * *

><p>Common enemy<p>

* * *

><p>Mortis<p>

* * *

><p>"Shall we?" Isran says, in a condescending way. I nod to myself, turning to the entryway that leads up to the upper floor, the balcony where Isran is waiting. I walk up the steps slowly, I still have questions for him. About the Dawnguard. About this raid. Gunmar said something about blind hatred, I'd like to know more about that.<p>

I reach the top of the spiralled staircase and walk along the balcony towards Isran. He looks tired like he hasn't really slept, I've been gone for almost a week and he looks like he's been wide awake all that time. I hear a shallow clank and I turn around to face some of the Dawnguard. The obviously better equipped and trained of them, standing at the read with crossbows. They would've shot us if Isran wasn't pleased with the outcome of that spell.

Maybe that answers one of the questions.

"I assume it's the one you found in Dimhollow." Isran calls to me, bringing my attention away from the Dawnguard and back to him. Maybe he would sacrifice his own men, maybe he is blinded by hatred. Get paid and leave. Leave before you get dragged into his battle. His war. "It came here a few days ago." He says, leaning against the wall.

I stand there for a few seconds, looking at him. He looks frustrated, I suppose I would be to if I were in his situation. I suppose I am in his situation, at least I care little enough to not lose any sleep over it. "Why didn't you shoot her?" I ask him.

He just looks at me and takes a deep breath. "It surrendered." He tells me, he looks off to the side slightly. "Mentioned you by name." He grumbles, he looks angry. "We might be able to get more information." He tells me. "But it'll only talk to you." He grumbles the last part, seeming angrier then before.

He turns around and walks into the room opposite the keep doors, I follow him. He leads me into a back room, with a stretcher and a table covered with various tools you might use for torture. There's a couple of shelves with skulls lined up on. Not vampire skulls, some are old, the teeth smashed out and jaw cracked. I turn to my left and Serana is sat on a chair in the corner, hunched over and looking tired. At least for a vampire.

I pick up one of the embalming tools on the table, holding it up to inspect it. "Ever use them?" I grumble lowly, turning to Isran. He just nods slowly. "Not very good." I mumble, putting it back down and picking up another. "For torture." I add.

"And what would you suggest?" Isran asks, I turn to look at him and he turns his attention on Serana, I look at her and she's watching my movements closely. She has the Elder Scroll on her back, and the belt that housed her dagger is gone, hanging from the wall. Her wrists are shackled together.

"I always used what was at hand." I tell him, keeping my gaze on the female vampire. She stares into my eyes, not giving away any emotion. She might be scared, I'm not even sure if vampires get scared. Maybe they don't have any feelings at all, then again she seemed hurt at Harkon's reaction to her arrival. She has a youthful face, she was probably in her mid-twenties when she was turned. I have no idea how old she really is, she'll always look twenty five though.

"Hmm." Isran rumbles, the sound gravelly. He stares at Serana, although glare would probably be more accurate. He doesn't say anything. "Spit it out." He orders, the threat unspoken but perfectly clear.

She looks at me, stares at me. "I need your help." She says slowly, she looks down slightly. Ringing her hands, maybe she does it when she's nervous. "The Dawnguard's help." She clarifies. Really it was a foolish move to come here. She doesn't really know anything about the Dawnguard, except what I told her which was very little. Almost nowt. "I know you probably weren't expecting to see…"

"With what?" I interrupt her gruffly. She looks at me and raises an eyebrow, probably annoyed that I interrupted her but I don't have time for pleasantries.

"I'd rather not be here." She starts, still ringing her hands. "But I needed to talk to you." She says, she glances at Isran. I watch her and gesture for her to continue.

"Go on." Isran grumbles slowly from behind me. He scrapes his boot against the stone floor. I look at him over my shoulder, he flexes his jaw and runs his hand through his beard. He breathes in through his nose and then spits on the floor.

She stops ringing her hands, and lets them rest on her lap. "It's…" She pauses and looks up at me. "Well, it's about me." She pauses again. "And the Elder Scroll."

Isran grumbles something, it's too low to hear. I stand and think for a few minutes, I need to think carefully, need to ask the right questions. "What about you?" I ask her, looking down at the ground and then looking back at her.

She raises an eyebrow, she looks slightly surprised I didn't ask about the Elder Scroll. "The reason I was down there… why I had the Scroll." She answers, ringing her hands together. "It all comes back to my father." She pauses and stares deep into my eyes. "He's not a good man." She tells me. "Even as far as vampires go."

I tuck my thumb under my belt, glancing at Isran. He's still glaring at Serana. "What does this have to do with you or the Scroll?" I ask her, she nods her head, bringing her hands back and leaning forward in her chair.

"He wasn't always like that." She tells me. "There was… a turn." She pauses, probably thinking about how best to continue. "He stumbled onto this obscure prophecy." She looks at Isran and then back to me. "He lost himself in it." She clarifies, trying to defend her father.

"What was the prophecy?" Isran barks gruffly. Shattering the quiet and any sense of calm discussion. She just looks at him, looking like she's going to refuse to answer.

"It's pointless and vague like all prophecies." She answers shortly, glaring at him. She turns back to look at me. "The part he was really focused on said that vampires would no longer need to fear the sun." She pauses and glances to the side slightly, obviously disbelieving of the prophecy. Can't say I buy much into them either. "That's what he's after, he wants to control the sun." She tells me and Isran.

Isran laughs lowly. I turn to look at him, there's a small grin on his lips. "Control the sun?" He growls, he points at Serana and looks at me he goes to say something but Serana interrupts him.

"Look I know it sounds ridiculous…" Serana starts, looking at me for help, then at Isran.

"Try impossible." I interrupt her, she looks at me disbelieving. "You can't control the sun." I tell her, leaning against the wall and looking at Isran, he nods in agreement.

Serana looks between the two of us. "Regardless if it's possible or not, my mother didn't want to invite a war with all of Tamriel." She says quickly, trying to convince us. "It doesn't matter if the prophecy is true or not, my father believes it is and he will stop at nothing to reap the rewards."

Isran is silent, leaving me to ask the questions. "That's why the Scroll was sealed away." I mutter, looking at her. "Why were you?" I ask her, she looks up at me.

She starts to ring her hands again, glancing down. "Protection." She murmurs, looking back up at me. She's either lying, or her mother was lying or that's all she knows. I glance at Isran, he doesn't seem like he's going to ask any questions.

"Seems like a lot to go through." I tell her. She just shakes her head slightly. Isran just glares at her. "And why do you need to talk to me?" I ask her, she looks at the floor. Starting to shake her head again.

She looks at me and raises her eyebrows, looking down slightly and then back up, with a lot more resolve. "I don't know who I can trust." She answers, I glance at Isran from the corner of my eye, he looks like his patience is wearing thin. "I was hoping you would help." I've been in that type of situation, not know who you can trust and who will stab you in the back. I don't think I'm the kind of help she wants though. I suppose at the very least I can get more money out of Isran.

"You've heard what it has to say." Isran says, Serana looks up at him sharply. "Is there any reason I shouldn't kill this thing right now." He demands an answer. So does Serana, she's defenceless or at least close to with her hands shackled like that.

"I don't believe her." I mutter, Isran goes to grab a knife from the table. "But. You can't afford to just ignore everything she just told you." I tell him, he stops moving, his hand resting on the knife. "It might not be true but if her father believes it and is willing to go to any lengths to bring a prophecy to fruition then that's a problem in itself."

Isran drops the knife on the table, and walks towards the doorway, thrusting a set of keys into my hands. "You'd better know what you're doing." He tells me, he's furious. "It can stay for now." He stares at Serana. "If it lays a finger on anyone here, I'll kill it." He points at me, turning his full attention on me. "And you." His hand shakes slightly, he glares at Serana. "You're a resource, an asset." He tells her. "And if you run out of usefulness then you're going in the ground."

"I'll remember that the next time I'm feeling hungry." She replies. Undermining Isran and his threat, from the vague information I've heard from Gunmar and Sorine I wouldn't be so quick to write him off. He huffs something out and walks out the room, he shouts something to the Dawnguard and then he's gone. Serana turns to me and lifts her hands up slightly. "Are you going to unlock these?" She shakes the shackles to make her point.

I hold the key, and look down at it, turning to her slowly. "You have the Scroll." I mutter, crouching down in front of her chair and pull her hands to me, unlocking the shackles.

"Whatever it says will be helpful in learning more about this prophecy." She answers, staring at the shackles, the first one comes off and she flexes her wrist a bit. "Something that might help stop my father." She murmurs, I unlock the other cuff and pull them away, throwing them onto the table. I stand up and walk over to the other side of the room, leaning against it. "Of course neither of us can read it."

She stands up from the chair and grabs her belt from a hook on the wall, putting it around her waist. She looks at me, and I nod absently. We can't read it. I don't know anything about the Elder Scrolls, not really even what they look like. "Who can?" I rasp, looking at her.

She finishes fastening the belt around her waist, and starts rubbing her wrists. "The Moth Priests are the only ones I've heard of who can." She looks at me. "They spend years preparing before they begin the reading." She pulls her knife out of the sheath attached to her belt, running her finger along the edge. "They're all in Cyrodiil though." She adds, putting the knife back in her sheath.

"Hmm." I grumble, pushing away from the wall. Isran will pay me when I get back most likely, I don't care about the walk away anymore, this isn't worth it. Maybe I can bleed more coin out of him. "Scholars are always moving from place to place." I tell her. "They're always heading to the college in Winterhold, hopefully we can intercept one on the way."

I head out the door, Serana follows me closely. "Any idea where to look or go?" She asks, as we head down the spiral staircase. I head to the back room, it's too bright to head out yet. There's only about three hours of sun light left, enough time to get some rest.

I walk over to one of the small cots in the corner of the room. I unbuckle my sword belt, dropping the scabbard to the floor with a heavy clunk, the bow and quiver attached to the belt. I quickly pull my pack off and put that on the floor, more carefully, followed by my water skin. "I know someone who will." I tell her, laying down on the rough cot. I've slept on worse.

"Who?" Serana asks turning to me, sitting on the cot next to mine, I glance at her. She stares at me silently, waiting for an answer.

"An old friend." I tell her, putting my head down and closing my eyes. "I'm a light sleeper." I grumble to Serana. The warning unsaid, but she'll understand what I mean. Almost immediately I hear a slight whisper.

* * *

><p>I'm here. Always here.<p>

The whispers in my skull, it burns in my forehead, the constant commands and prayers to their mother. She tells me everything. She tells me that my dagger is dry, that it should be covered in the blood of the innocent. I tell her there aren't any innocent. Not in Skyrim or Cyrodiil. Nowhere. She tells me I'm worse than the last.

I can feel her now, the icy fingers on the base of my spine. Curling around the bones on my left arm. Feeling the old cracks and burning the new scars. The pain behind my eyes becomes unbearable. She tells me to fulfil my duty, my promise and to not abandon my family like those who came before.

The hands stop their groping, their search. They stop over my stomach, over an old and very painful wound. Straying to the one next to it, the mark of my own blade, then to my left arm again. My failures. They stray down my arm, cupping my palm.

You're mine, and one day, one day soon you'll be judged by Sithis.

I sit up quickly, pulling my left hand away from hers wiping the sweat from my forehead, pushing my hair out of my face. I look around the room, it's empty apart from Serana, who just watches me in silence. I hang my head slightly, sweat dripping from my hair. I stand up pressing my hand against the pain in my stomach. I stumble back slightly, groaning as I shift my weight and lean against the wall.

"How long was I asleep?" I ask, turning to look at the vampire. She watches me as I pick up my belt and fasten it around my shoulder, then pull my pack and the quiver of arrows onto my shoulder.

I turn to look at her again, she stands up from the cot. "About four hours, maybe a bit more." She answers. I watch her as she walks around the cot, closer to mine. "What was that?" She asks, I don't answer her. Play ignorant, it's always worked in the past. She won't believe it but it'll stop her questions. "So who is this person anyway?" She asks, leaving her other questions unanswered. Maybe she knows there won't be an answer or maybe she doesn't care. Either way at least I don't have to answer. I don't know how I would.

I walk to the door, Serana walking at my side. I drop a couple of steps back so that she has her back to me. "Sven." I reply, she glances at me. "Gets a lot of Stormcloaks in his inn." I tell her, she raises an eyebrow. "They watch the roads for any Imperial convoys." She nods to herself. "And unfortunately for him, he owes me a favour." She looks at me strangely, squinting slightly.

"What type of favour?" She starts pushing the door open and I give her a hand, the large, heavy door swinging open slowly.

We start walking down the steps towards the dirt path. "You know what Orc mercenaries do to a traitor?" I ask her, she thinks for a few seconds before shaking her head. "It's that type of favour." I tell her.

We walk along the dirt path in silence. Isran is stood on a small watchtower, leaning heavily against the wooden beams supporting the roof. He watches us as we walk past, Duraks training some new volunteers further along the path, showing them how to aim and fire a crossbow.

The volunteers actually look like they might know what they're doing now, not that it'll make much of a difference. Harkon's little army is bigger and his "soldiers" have actually killed before. His thralls, or at least the ones I've seen weren't as well equipped as the Dawnguard but better equipment will only take you so far. Isran's Dawnguard will be slaughtered if he tries to attack anytime soon.

That same boy, Agmaer is watching the gate. This time from the inside, maybe Durak doesn't trust him to watch for people heading towards the fort. I don't know why he isn't training with the rest of the volunteers, maybe Isran and Durak think it won't make a difference.

He starts to ask me something, tripping over his words slightly when he looks at Serana, he starts to raise his crossbow slightly. "Open the gate." I order him. He looks at me, hesitant to do as I've told him, his eyes stray back over to Serana, I glance at her and she has a small smirk on her face. "Now boy." I tell him gruffly. He looks at me and I rest my hand on my dagger.

"But it's a…" He starts, he trails off as he looks at me. Raising the crossbow up, half aiming it at Serana.

I look at her and she just starts at the young Nord, sizing him up. I wait for them to stop staring at each other. This little standoff, neither of them will attack. The boy looks at me again, I just tilt my head slightly, still staring at him. "Open the gate." I grumble, he looks back at Serana before finally concluding that both of us are getting annoyed. He lowers the crossbow and starts to open the gate. The wooden gate swings with a loud creak, shaking the wall slightly as it does.

We walk out, the boy probably watching us as we do. Serana walks next to me. "You're not walking behind me." She says, falling in step with me. "You don't trust me." She states. She's right, can't take that away from her. "I don't trust you. So we'll walk next to each other."

I look at her and she just stares forward. "We'll head to Riften." I tell her, she glances at me. "Get a carriage to Windhelm." She nods and looks forward again. The walk to Riften shouldn't be too long and I want to get this over and done as quickly as I can. That walk away isn't looking as good now.

* * *

><p>Sven's inn doesn't have name, or if it does I have no idea what it is. The walk from Windhelm has been silent, Serana tried to start a conversation on the carriage but I just ignored her until she shut up. We walk up to the Inn, the sign outside is weathered and unreadable, whatever it said is long gone. I go straight up to the door, Serana a few paces behind, looking around slightly.<p>

I push open the door, the inn's full. It normally is, Sven has cheap ale and mead. It doesn't taste nice at all but it gets the job done, the skooma doesn't hurt business much either. Serana stops moving, standing in the doorway, I grab her arm and lead her to a table in the corner. She nods slightly and sits down once we get to the table. I walk around and sit down opposite her.

We sit there, Serana watches the crowd and I just watch the bar on the far end of the room. Sven's hired help mills about, she's swaying her hips just like the last time I was here but it's not the same woman. He probably didn't tell her what happened to the last one and the one before. I look at Serana she's looking around in wonder. "Even been to an inn before?" I ask just loud enough for her to hear.

She snaps back to reality, looking around at me. "No… I haven't." She watches me as I turn my attention back to the bar. "What are you doing?"

What am I doing? What am I doing here? I don't need to be here, I need to be back at Fort Dawnguard, get my coin and leave. Leave Isran to his pretend struggle with an enemy that isn't there, or at least isn't as powerful as he's made them seem. Leave him to fight his enemy. Leave them and wait for what will happen to happen. That would be the smart thing to do. "Watching." That's all I've ever done. "What you think of the inn?" I ask quickly.

She looks around, focusing on a man with a lute who walks over to the fire and sits down. "It's… alright." She answers looking back at me. I nod slightly and lean back in my chair, pulling out my waterskin and taking a quick drink.

The man, the bard starts playing a song on his lute. It's rough sounding although I suppose that's the Nord way. Serana watches it carefully, I turn away from her and watch the bar again. Sven's stood there. "Not long for this world." I mutter to myself. Serana looks at me over her shoulder. I stand up and walk around the table to her. "Won't be long." I grumble to her, marching over to the bar.

Sven's stood behind the bar, wiping it with a rag. Not cleaning it really, probably just trying to look busy. I come to a stop a few feet away from it, and wait for him to say something or look up. "You want something ask her." He mumbles, gesturing to the large room absently. "I'm busy." He adds.

I put my hands on the bar and lean forward, Sven looks up and his face goes pale. "Not for me." I grumble. "Walk to the basement." I order him, he nods slightly. "Try and get help and I will kill you." I tell him, he nods gravely. He knows I will, he's a weak, pathetic excuse of a man but he's not thick enough to try and get me killed more than once.

He walks to the basement door, opens it and stands in the doorway, turning around to talk to me. "Listen, Mortis I had…" I push him and he falls down the short staircase, landing on his back with a loud thud. "Ahh." He groans, getting to his feet. "They gave me no choice!" He shouts.

I grab him and pull him up. "I don't care." I growl, throwing him into a table. He slams into it and it falls over, he falls over the back of it. "I have questions you have answers." I put my hand on the table and push on it till its upright again. Sven gets up, stands still and looks at me. "Let's see if you remember how this works."

"Mortis." He says, he sits down at one of the two chairs at the table, I do the same. "Listen I thought they would…"

"Kill me." I interrupt. He closes his eyes and mouths something. I once told Sven I would kill him, I made a lot of threats to him and tonight I plan on fulfilling one of them. "Moth Priest." I grumble, he opens his eyes and looks at me strangely. "Any in Skyrim?"

He looks down for a minute. "Yeah." He answers. "Couple of Stormcloaks were in here the other night." He tells me, he leans forward slightly. "Giving the big talk, apparently an Imperial scholar rode in three nights ago. They had to head up to Dragon bridge because of Stormcloaks on the road." He tells me. "Might be your Moth Priest."

"Any indication that this was a Moth Priest?" I ask him. I'm not travelling all that way over some scholar that may or may not be a Moth Priest. I don't have the time or the patience for that.

He leans back in his chair, looking pleased with himself. "That's why they were talking it up so much." He tells me. "Convoy had the seal of the White-Gold tower." He leans forward again. "The seal of the Emperor."

I nod slowly. "That'll be him." I say to myself, I stand up and walk over to the side of the table. "You get to keep your head." I tell him gruffly, he leans back slightly his arms outstretched on the table. He looks proud of himself. I draw my sword and before he has time to react, I slam the blade down on his forearm, severing his right hand from his arm. He screams out in pain, pulling the stump to his stomach and falling off his chair. I put the blade on the back of his neck. "Or should I take that as well?" I grumble to myself.

He looks up, panic on his face. "Mortis please." He says, putting his hand up, palm facing me and fingers stretched out. He ducks down slightly. "Please don't kill me."

I nod slightly and his looks slightly relieved. I swing the sword at his other arm, taking the top of his hand off and just leaving his thumb and the bottom half of his palm. He doubles over, screaming in pain.

I walk up the stairs, leaving Sven to bleed to death in the basement. I look back at him, he's sobbing on the floor, trying to stop the blood flow. I open the basement door and walk behind the bar. Searching for the key I know he keeps here. I put my sword away, not bothering to clean the blood off the blade. I find the small bronze key and walk back to the door, locking it. I tuck the key in my pack and walk back to the table I left Serana at.

I sit back down, in the same chair I was sat in before. Serana quickly looks round at me. "I can smell blood." She says quickly, looking at me strangely. "On you."

I sit back in my chair. "Moth Priest headed for Dragon bridge." I tell her, she goes to say something. "We should leave soon." I add.

"What about the blood?" She asks, leaning forward. I stare at her for a few minutes. She looks angry and she said it in a grave way. She stares back at me, waiting for an answer.

"I was talking to Sven." I answer, she looks away. Closes her eyes and then looks back at me and shakes her head. "We should head out now." I tell her. She doesn't answer. "Unless you want to wait till dawn." I add.

She nods and stands up, heading for the door. I follow her closely, walking out into the cold air. Serana walks down the road but I stop and pull the key from my pack, putting it on the top stair. I start to walk after the vampire leaving Sven to die and for someone to eventually find him.


	7. The Easy Route

**Follows, favourites and reviews are appreciated, so if you want to then go ahead. Thanks to everyone who has done any of that and thanks to everyone who's read the story.**

**Word count.**

**Original: 1,231**

**Re-write: 3,282**

* * *

><p>Chapter VII<p>

* * *

><p>The Easy Route<p>

* * *

><p>Mortis<p>

* * *

><p>Serana trudges along next to me, dragging her feet through the mud and snow. She's been silent since we left the inn, probably didn't like how I dealt with Sven. If she's afraid to get her hands dirty then how she has gone this long being a vampire is beyond my understanding. Maybe she doesn't agree with murder. She looks around the dark forest, it's slowly getting brighter. The sky in the distance lighting up slightly.<p>

I just watch her actions. Resting my hand against my dagger. There's a twig snapping somewhere to my right, probably a rabbit or something, never the less I watch the brush carefully. It's a good place to hide if you want the advantage in a fight. I stop walking and pull my bow round, nocking an arrow while I do it. I hear Serana stop walking and she turns to look at me.

"It'll be dawn soon." I tell her quietly. There's a long stretch of silence, another twig snaps and I pull back on the arrow, tensing slightly as I look over the brush for any signs of the vegetation being disturbed.

I hear Serana's footsteps as she moves over to a nearby tree, keeping an eye on the brush. "Yes, it will." She finally replies, clearing her throat quietly before she says it.

I finally let the arrow slide forward, letting the tension off the bow string. I turn to look at her, staring at her eyes. Her gaze is hard, focused. I look back to the brush. I could just leave her, leave the money. They won't find me. If Isran will follow through on his threat. Maybe kill him first, stab him in the back.

"There's a shack." I grumble, looking at her. "Up the path, the beaten one." I tell her, she nods slightly. "If anyone's in there, which there might be." I stand up, swinging my bow back around onto my back. "Kill them." I tell her. Her gaze hardens.

"That your answer to everything?" She asks, a slight mocking tone to her already snarled reply. She shakes her head slightly. "Someone's in your way so you kill them?" She asks disbelieving.

"How else would I get past?" I ask in answer. She expected too much from me, a stranger with a sword. She doesn't know me, anything really aside from my name, she chose to try and trust me at least enough to think that I'm helping because I want to save the world. "If someone's in your way, you stab them in the back." I tell her.

She stares at me. Glares at me. If she wanted some righteous hero to help her save Tamriel then she asked the wrong person. If vampires take over Tamriel, then they take over Tamriel. Heroes don't exist in this world, only in old Nord songs and Imperial tall tales. In the real world, there's only people like me. I'll take what I can and shirk my duties as long as possible, I'll kill who I have to and avoid the needy, only the weak need saving and the weak will only drag you down and force you to burn with them.

I lean my weight onto my right leg, tilting my head to the side slightly. "If you run you might make it before sunrise." I tell her.

She glares at me. "Which way?" She grinds the words out, between her teeth. I point in the direction we were heading. "Where are you going?" She grumbles, beginning to walk away.

"Hunting." I call to her, walking into the brush.

* * *

><p>The suns high in the sky, casting deep shadows between the trees. I sit there, in one of those shadows. My bow is leaning against a tree, my quiver propped up against the same tree. The rain beats down hard, making the dirt ground extremely slippery. I turn my gaze along the brush and treeline.<p>

Soldiers are always passing through the woods, they use them to avoid the roads. Stormcloaks mostly. Apparently they don't want the Legion watching they're movements. It's no secret that the Legion secretly watch the roads. A small rabbit, comes into the clearing. I pull my bow around, pulling an arrow free from the quiver as well. I bring the bow up, nocking the arrow. I draw the arrow, pulling the bow string back.

I let the arrow go, letting it glide forward. It hits the rabbit, slicing through the flesh and pinning the small animal to the ground. I walk out of my small hiding place, collecting my quiver and swinging it and the bow over my shoulder. I crouch down, pulling the arrow out of the ground, the rabbit skewed onto it.

I pull my pack around in front of me, putting the rabbit inside. The arrow's shaft is cracked, splintered wood breaking away as I put slight pressure on the shaft. I drop the broken, bloodied arrow on the ground. I stand back up and start walking in the direction of the hunting shack.

The walks not too far, the clearing only around ten minutes away from the small wooden building. The grounds slippery, water falls from the trees above and the rain pelts down hard. Splashing heavily against the ground, throwing more of the rain water up against me.

My foot slips slightly in the mud, forcing me to grab a branch in order to keep my balance. I take a second to get my footing back and then continue on my way to the shack. The wooden structure comes into sight.

I walk up to the door, and open it slowly, quickly ducking in and out of the rain. I move over to the table at the blacked out window without looking around the room, swinging my pack around and pulling the small rabbit out. I put it on the table roughly.

Pulling out a broad bladed hunting knife, I slide it out of the brown leather scabbard. "You've been gone awhile." Serana says from behind me. I look at her over my shoulder, she's sat in the far corner on a large bear pelt, leaning against the wall.

"Aye." I groan, looking back at the small animal. The blood stained table, the knife. "Any trouble?" I ask her, getting to work with skinning the rabbit.

I hear her stand up, and then her boots hitting the wooden slats on the floor as she walks towards me. "You mean, did I have to kill anyone?" She asks, the sounds of her steps stops abruptly. "No I didn't have to kill anyone." She mocks. "I thought you Dawnguard soldiers or hunters were meant to respect the preservation of mortal life."

I stop cutting. Dropping the knife on the table and turning to look at the vampire. "What do you know about the Dawnguard?" I ask her, taking a step towards her. "Who are they?"

She looks taken aback by the question, probably wasn't expecting one about the order she thinks I'm with. "They Dawnguard are infamous in history." She says it like it's the most obvious thing in the world, like its common knowledge, like everyone who's ever read a book knows.

That just makes my poor decisions that much worse.

"Who are they?" I ask, getting closer to her. She just looks at me. "Tell me." I order her, I probably sound desperate but I need to know who I'm working for and by the sounds of it she has answers.

"The Dawnguard are infamous for their raids and attacks." She tells me. "How do you not know about them?" She asks, I don't bother answering. "They attacked entire villages, burnt them to the ground. Killed anyone who lived there, they were at war for the better part of sixty years." She tells me, that's who the Dawnguard are. Murderers who pillage and destroy. "You're not one of them."

"No." I grumble, looking down. I accepted a job, accepted payment without asking questions and now I'm working for an order who have a history of brutality. I walk back over to the rabbit, continuing with the skinning.

I've always worked for an order with a history of brutality.

There's footsteps behind me, by the sounds of it she's walking back over to the bear pelt. "Then who are you?" I stop what I'm doing and lean against the table. It's a difficult question to answer, who am I. I've not used my name in a very long time, only going by a name given to me by those who feared me. I haven't been feared in long time. She may not know it, but she's just asked the only question I could never answer.

Choose the easy route, always the easy route. "Dark Brotherhood." I finally answer, continuing with the rabbit.

There's a long stretch of silence, too long for me to bother counting. "Dark Brotherhood?" She asks, I don't bother answering. "What are you doing shacked up with vampire hunters?"

I stab the knife into the table. "They paid me." I tell her, the only answer to any question she could possibly have about me and the Dawnguard. They paid me and I agreed, I didn't ask questions, I didn't wait to see who I was talking to. I didn't even get paid. I leave the knife upright in the table. "Can you drink this?" I ask her, lazily gesturing to the rabbit.

There's a long silence. Longer than the one before. It seems to drag on. My reasons are never just, never righteous, never smart. I just do whatever I can, most of the time I just follow whatever will get me paid. Whoever was paying the most, whoever was offering the cheapest drink. I've failed the Brotherhood. I haven't just shirked my duties, I've completely abandoned them.

"No, it has to be man or mer." She finally answers, the sound foreign in the silence of the shack.

There's another long stretch of silence, I sit down on a nearby chair. Dropping heavily against it. "Right." I reply, leaning back in the chair, Serana goes to say something, I only hear the beginnings of a sentence. "I'm not hungry." I interrupt her, looking at the ceiling. "We should be able to make it to Dragon bridge if we leave at dusk."

* * *

><p>Dragon Bridge comes into view, the village lit up by torch light. Candles burning in the windows, the flag of the Empire hanging high and proud. No Stormcloaks round these parts, too close to Solitude. It's a small village and really the only things here are an inn and a guard post.<p>

We walk down the road that leads through the middle of the village, towards the namesake of this little village. The proud stone bridge, impressive really. The inn's loud, only public place in these parts, gets a lot of travellers from what I remember.

"I'll ask about the inn." She nods her head in agreement, going to walk up to the steps. "You wait here." I tell her, she just looks at me. "Draw less attention." I grumble walking up the steps and into the inn.

The inns bigger than Sven's. It's mainly just one long room with doors lining the two longest walls, another behind the bar. Probably the cellar. It's crowded, not like Sven's but still a lot of people. It has a nicer feel to it then Sven's, less likely to get stabbed by a drunk Nord with a false sense of superiority.

I walk up to the bar, moving through the crowd of people. Some of them give me a wide birth but a few of them square up to me somewhat. Apparently if you walk in with a weapon and armour people will want to fight you. I get to the bar and lean against it. The landlord looks at me and walks over. "Alright mate." He says. "What will it be?"

I put two septims on the bar, keeping my hand over them. "Moth Priest in these parts. Any idea where he was heading?" I ask, tapping my fingers on the two gold coins.

The landlord, leans into the bar. "Headed out a few hours ago." He tells me, he looks around the inn slightly. "Guards should know which way he was headed." He tells me.

I nod slightly, pushing away from the bar ever so slightly. I slide the coins forward and he quickly snatches them off the bar, tucking them somewhere underneath it. "Cheers mate." I grumble, turning and walking back to the door.

I walk out the door, leaving the nice warm inn and going back out in to the bitterly cold Skyrim night. The biting cold hitting me as soon as I walk out. Serana's stood nearby, leaning against a small cobblestone wall. She's watching a couple of guards carefully. They're watching her.

I walk down the steps and she turns her head to look at me. "Those guards keep staring at me." She whispers, only just loud enough to her what she's saying. I take a couple of steps forward, stopping at the wall. I look at the guards, they're staring at Serana and now they keep glancing at me. Talking to each other in hushed tones. "Do you think they know?" She asks, turning her attention back to the couple of guards.

"No." I rasp, I start walking over to them. They watch me closely, hands straying to their swords. I come to a stop in front of them, they stare at me, hands now on the hilts of their swords. "Which way did the Moth Priest head in?" I ask them. They don't answer, one of them takes a step forward.

"Why should we tell you?" He grumbles through his helmet. Walking around me slightly, coming to a stop behind me. "Outsider." He snarls.

"Few septims in it for you." I tell them, the one in front of me takes a couple of steps forward.

"How many would that be?" He asks, ordering me to answer really. "Because however much it is, double it." He speaks in a strong Cyrodiilic accent, the one behind me a Nord.

I look at the one behind me. "Four septims." I tell him, I turn back to the other guard. "Each." I growl at him.

"Eight septims." He snarls at me, hand tensing on the hilt of his sword. "Each." He adds in a growl.

"Four, between you." I answer back. I look at the one behind me, then back to the Imperial. "And I won't kill you both." I stare into the Imperial's eyes. He goes to draw his sword and I pull my dagger free from its sheath. "I can stab you and slit your friend's throat before you have time to draw that sword mate." He grips the hilt tightly, I hear the other guard shuffle away slightly. "Where'd the Moth Priest head?"

"Alright." The Nord says, breaking the tension slightly. I look at him and he backs away from me a few steps. "He went that way." He mumbles, pointing to the namesake of the town. "With an Imperial escort." He adds.

I slide my dagger back into my sheath, taking a couple of steps towards him. I smirk slightly, pulling out four coins. "Good man." I rasp, dropping the four spetims in the mud. I turn away from them and start to walk back to Serana.

She's leaning against the wall, arms crossed over her chest, head hung low. Her hair is covering her face, though her eyes are noticeable once you get close enough. I stop a few feet away from her, resting my hand on my belt. She looks up at me properly, shifting her eyes over my shoulders to look at the two guards.

"They're still staring." She grumbles, looking at me. I glance at them and they look away slightly. "You said they don't know?" She whispers.

I look over my shoulder. "Aye." Looking back at her, I grab her arm and start to lead her away, towards the bridge. "They don't know." She goes to say something. "They will rape you." She looks at me sharply. "Always happens in small villages, locals don't really care what happens to an outsider. Especially when they're just passing through." I look at her, staring into her eyes. "Priest went this way, with an escort."

We get half way over the bridge and I let go off her arm, Serana rushing ahead a couple of steps. "An escort?" She questions, we cross the bridge and get back onto the dirt path. "This Empire you've been talking about?" She adds.

"Aye." I grumble. This empire, if they don't agree to go to Fort Dawnguard then we might have to kill them. The Imperials aren't the most well equipped but they don't go down easily and they'll be willing to die for that Moth Priest.

The carriages come into sight, the one at the front tipped onto its side and the one behind crippled by the dead horses. Arrows sticking out from their bodies. We hurry up, getting to the carriages as quick as we can. Serana goes off around the side of the carriage and I climb up onto the back, starting to search through the equipment and the packs at the back. "Nowt here but spears and firewood." I climb down.

"Looks like they dropped a couple of packs here." Serana tells me, throwing one of the packs to me. I catch the pack and Serana starts to dig through the one she's carrying.

I crouch down and start looking through the one I have. There's a nasty looking dagger in a rough leather sheath, Nordic runes scratched into the leather. I quickly shove it into my pack. I pull out a piece of paper, writing on it, Nordic words. I hold the paper up to her. "Can you read?" I grumble catching her attention.

She turns around, taking the piece of paper from me while nodding. "Orders from my father." She mumbles. "They went to a nearby cave." She says, looking off to the side of the road. "That way." She mumbles, pointing over in the right direction. "Father probably instructed them to perform a control ceremony."

She starts walking in the direction of the cave, I follow her closely. "Control ceremony?" I ask her. She doesn't answer straight away, probably trying to decide the best way to explain it.

"When we put mortals under our thrall they really only retain their base instincts and emotions." She says to me. "They live to serve us till their dying breath." She looks at me. "A control ceremony lets a thrall keep their intelligence, they serve us but they serve in a much smarter way." She mumbles. "If the Moth Priest was just a thrall he wouldn't be able to read the scroll."

I nod to myself. Makes sense, the few thralls I've fought seemed to rely on brute strength rather than any type of strategy. Anger and hate will carry you quite far through a fight, though without anything to guide it then you're only going to last for so long.

The cave comes into view, dark and small. Only just visible from the outside, mainly covered up by brush. I swing my bow around, nocking an arrow and keeping it low. "We'll move on them slow." I tell her, if they killed the Imperial escort then there must be a few of them.

Serana nods, pulling out her small knife, the golden coloured blade shinning bright even in the dark night.


	8. Indoctrination

**Follows, favourites and reviews are appreciated, so if you want to then go ahead. Thanks to everyone who has done any of that and thanks to everyone who's read the story.**

**Word count.**

**Original: 1,486**

**Re-write: 2,343**

* * *

><p>Chapter VIII<p>

* * *

><p>Indoctrination<p>

* * *

><p>Serana<p>

* * *

><p>The cave is dark and damp, the ground covered in moss making the floor slippery. I stop walking and look around, there's the crumbling ruins of what looks to be an old Nord fort, why was it hidden away from sight? There's lit torches lining the walls and very bright light coming from what looks to be the most well protected part of the small fort. A small, shallow river runs through the middle of the cavern, passing between the rocks.<p>

Mortis, steps in front of me, taking the lead. He holds his bow low, angling the arrow he has ready down. He crouches slightly and starts walking slowly, looking around as he does. I follow his lead, walking slower than him in order to allow him to keep the lead.

The way he moves and the way he's constantly looking around his surroundings it should've been obvious he wasn't just a vampire hunter. When we were at that inn he never really took his eyes off the crowd, just scanning the faces. Besides he doesn't really seem all too interested in stopping my father, maybe he isn't, I suppose it doesn't really matter as long as he's helping.

There's a death hound not too far from us, down a steep slope. The short, muscled animal standing just standing there, its rack of dagger like teeth proudly on display. Mortis lifts the bow up, pulling back and drawing the arrow till the fletching is near his ear. He moves the bow to the side slightly and takes a deep breath. He lets go of the string, it slaps back into the bow with a dull whack. The arrow sails through the air and skewers into the death hound's gut, throwing the creature to the ground.

The animal whimpers on the ground slightly and mortis rushes forward, I do as well to keep up with him. He draws his dagger and as quickly and as quietly as possible he plunges the steel blade into its skull. He pulls it out and looks up sharply as footsteps echo around the cavern. They sound like their heading our way. He pushes me back, behind a small piece of what must have been the fort's outer battlements.

I watch him as he quickly drops the bow onto the ground and ducks back behind a rock with his dagger at the ready. He holds it in his left hand with the blade pointed down. The footsteps slow to a stop. There's a short grumble, then one of the vampires or thralls takes a few steps forward. I can only just see them but it's a man, fur armour covering his body an iron axe held by his side. He pulls the arrow free from the death hound's body, inspects it shortly before letting that fall to the ground. He puts his fingers to the stab wound in its head, lifting them away to look at the black blood.

He stands up and takes a few steps back, out of my sight. I look back at Mortis, he doesn't look scared of being caught I suppose if he's an assassin he's probably been in situations like this before. He pushes up against the rock more, dagger still ready. I decide to take a leaf from his book and slide my own knife out. There's a few muffled words, I'm not sure what language there in but they sound aggressive none the less.

One of them walks between us, it's the same man as from before. I can see him better now, his fur armour doesn't really look protective at all and there's an iron sword hanging from the back of his belt. The blade looks slightly blunt, not sharp enough to sever one of our limps but definitely sharp enough to do some damage, the axe on the other hand is the complete opposite sharp enough to sever a limp with one well-placed strike.

The thrall stops walking and turns to the side slightly, I try and duck back further behind the wall but it's too late, he spots me and moves in with the axe. I use my spells and send a spear of ice at him, he lifts his arm to defend himself, the ice cutting into his skin. Another one of them moves into attack, a Khajiit with a roughly made mace. Mortis moves out of his cover and pulls the Khajiit back, stabbing into his neck and abruptly ending his life.

I send another few more ice spears at the first one with the axe, he swings the axe at the ice, smashing it in mid-air. I catch a quick glimpse of Mortis pulling his swords free from his scabbard and going to intercept another one of the thralls, an Argonian. The thrall rushes at me, swinging the axe I only just manage to block the strike with my knife. He draws his sword and swings that at me as well, I duck back out of the way to avoid the blade.

There's a lot of shouting and then a shallow sounding splash, followed by three more. I stab at the thrall and he takes a step back to avoid me, I quickly follow it with another spear of ice. I send it into the bottom of his jaw, stabbing through the roof of his mouth, and making him drop to the floor with a gargle.

I quickly move around to find Mortis, he's in the small river desperately fighting off three more of the thralls. I move in from behind, climbing down into the river and stabbing one of the thralls in the back, forcing my dagger through the back of his chest. He coughs loudly, blood coming out of his mouth. There's another shout from behind me, from the fort wall. I turn and glance at the wall, there's another thrall with a bow and arrow. I quickly move the thrall around, putting the body in front of me, there's that dull whack again and an arrow slams into the body. I let go and duck behind the slight incline of the stone bank.

I look at Mortis, the archer hasn't bothered to try and shoot him. Must not be able to get a good shot on him. The thrall fighting him swings down a sword and Mortis gets down on one knee, holding his sword up to defend himself, then dropping it away and slicing his sword at the thrall's ankles making him drop to the ground. Mortis quickly gets back up to his feet to fight the last of the thralls, he blocks an attack with his dagger in his left hand, he drops his arm to his side with a flinch and then swings his sword again down into the thrall's shoulder. I quickly end the other thrall's life with an ice spear into his skull.

He forces the thrall backwards into the same incline I'm against. He pushes his dagger into the thrall's throat. Killing him almost instantly. He moves around the body and leans against the wall. He slides his dagger back into his sheath and spits in the water. I move away from the stone and step back, sending lightning at the archer, he falls backwards off the wall.

We climb over the incline and start to head for the fort's entrance, Mortis in front. We turn the corner and a death hound throws itself onto him. He falls onto his back, holding the creature up. His forearm pressed against its neck as its jaw snaps at his face. One of the vampires moves into attack me, there's a loud whimper and Mortis gets to his feet to help me.

The vampire moves in quickly, attacking with a spear. She thrusts the steel headed weapon at me and I quickly move away. She swings it around at Mortis the shaft hits him in the side and he puts his left arm around it to try and stop her from pulling the spear away. It doesn't last long, she pulls the spear away and he stumbles forward, swinging his sword at the spear to knock it off course from stabbing back at him.

She swings it around again and I have to move away from the very sharp steel head. She starts casting a spell, one to drain the life force of a mortal threat. Luckily it has no effect on me, an immortal. Mortis quickly moves forward and slashes his sword across the back of her neck. She drops the spear and stumbles forward, I step towards her and stab my knife into her stomach. She gasps and looks at me, her mouth open in shock and pain, I keep my arm around her and she turns to dust in my arms.

Mortis starts to move, walking to the back of the fort, over to the large amount of light. I look down at the small pile of dust, brushing some off my clothes. I killed one of my own kind. Not a man or a mer, not a mortal, a vampire. I look up at Mortis, how can he do it? How can he kill his own kind? Especially for personal profit, for gold. He stops walking and turns to look at me, holding his sword at his side. He leans forward slightly. All of those thralls were mortal and he killed them without blinking, without hesitation. He said how else would he get past. Now I know what he means.

I shake my head and start walking over to him. We pass through the archway and into a courtyard. There's a massive orb of blue light, a man stood crouched in the middle. There's a staircase up against the wall, leading to a raised platform. The ground is dry dirt, small patches of grass scattered around the floor.

A vampire moves out of the shadows throwing a hatchet at me, the blades slams into my thigh, making me fall onto the ground with a loud groan and a very slight scream of pain. The vampire pulls a sword out and swings it at Mortis, he quickly blocks the attack and follows up the movement with a strike of his own forcing the vampire back.

The vampire puts his hand out, starts to cast that spell to drain Mortis' life. To leech from his body and only leave a shell. It doesn't work out that way though, Mortis swings his sword at him cutting off the vampires fingers. He collapses back slightly, pulling his hand to his stomach, he tries to bring his sword up but Mortis kicks it out of his hand. He takes a step forward, the tip of the sword pushed against the vampire's throat, making him lean back.

I wait in silence, the vampire dares not speak or even move by the looks of his extremely tense body. Mortis just stands there, his sword still pressed against the vampire's throat. "How do I end this?" He grumbles, gesturing to the orb or light.

There's a long silence, uncomfortable to sit in. Mortis looks furious to say the least and the vampire looks fearful. "Why would I tell you?" He snarls. "Mortal." He spits out the word, sneering as he says it he groans slightly holding his mutilated hand to his stomach.

Mortis just grumbles something and swings the sword into the vampire's throat, not cutting too deep but enough to kill him. Slowly. He puts the sword back in his scabbard and walks up the stairs. I pull the hatchet free from my leg, a scream escaping my lips as I do. I tear the bottom of my cloak off and tie it tightly around my leg. I groan as I push myself back until my backs against the wall.

Mortis picks up a large blue and black stone, a weystone. He holds it up, turning it around in his hands. He walks back down the stairs, over to a pedestal at the head of the orb. He holds it in both hands, standing at the stone pedestal. He looks back at me. "Do you know how to stop this?" He asks.

I sit up slightly, leaning heavily against the wall. I put my hands on the deep wound, griping it tightly. I look at him, he's watching me just waiting for an answer. "That weystone, just push it into the pedestal." I groan out, only just loud enough for him to hear. "Should work."

He nods slowly turning back to the orb of blue light. I presses the weystone into the pedestal, there's a small hum and a shallow crackle and the light disappears. Mortis walks around the pedestal, coming to a stop next to it. The priest slowly gets to his feet. He looks around quickly, spotting Mortis. He draws a long sword and rushes at the assassin. He pulls the weystone out and the priest swings his sword down, Mortis uses his left gauntlet to knock the sword to the side and then swings the weystone into the side of the priest's head. He falls onto the floor unconscious.

Mortis takes a few steps away from the priest. The priest just lays perfectly still on the ground, there's a deep groan and I turn my eyes to the vampire as he finally turns to dust. I look back to Mortis and the priest. He isn't moving but I can see the rise and fall of his chest.

Mortis kicks his foot and his leg tenses slightly in response. He walks over to the wall I'm sat at and slumps down next to me, pushing his hood back off his head. I look sideways at him and he just looks tired, he puts his left arm out and rubs his elbow slightly groaning as he does.

He leans his head back, letting it hit the wall. "Now we wait." He grumbles. I look at him then back to the priest. Now we wait.


	9. Lucky

**Follows, favourites and reviews are appreciated, so if you want to then go ahead. Thanks to everyone who has done any of that and thanks to everyone who's read the story.**

**Word count.**

**Original: 1,147**

**Re-write: 3,176**

* * *

><p>Chapter IX<p>

* * *

><p>Lucky<p>

* * *

><p>Mortis<p>

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><p>It's been a good couple of hours by now and the priest still hasn't woken up. He's just lying still on the ground. I scratch at my beard and glance at Serana, she's just sat there waiting for the priest to wake up. She idly rubs at the wound on her leg, scratching at the exposed skin from the tear in her trousers. Her very pale, blood stained skin.<p>

I lean my head back against the wall again. Closing my eyes and resting my hands in my lap. Serana groans slightly but I just ignore her. I move slightly trying to get a bit more comfortable against the wall, that fall into the river wasn't the best and landing hard on those rocks wasn't the best for my shoulder.

"You're not from Skyrim are you?" She asks, breaking the silence we've been sat in for the past two hours. I don't answer favouring instead to just sit here with my eyes closed. "I mean I know most Nord's can't read but I heard you mumble something about a journal before." She adds. Clever or at least a good memory, she's not wrong I'm not from Skyrim and I can't read the Nordic language. "So where are you from?"

"Cyrodiil." I answer her. I don't bother to mention that I haven't been back there in a long time, really I've been avoiding going back there or anywhere near there. Nothing there anymore anyway, only bad memories.

I glance at her out of the corner of my eye she just looks forward, maybe she's waiting for me to say more. Maybe she knows I'm not a sharer. Maybe she just wants to wait for the priest in silence. That would be my luck she digs up memories and then sits in silence the one time I would welcome her chit chat. I rub the ring on my finger through the rough leather absently, closing my eyes again I let my head drop back against the wall.

"Cyrodiil?" She mumbles, trust her to start talking now I've come to the conclusion that I don't want her to speak. "What's it like there?" She asks. I don't know how old she is but she must have sat on that island, in that castle for quite a few years, hidden away from the world before she was actually hidden away in that crypt. She'd never been inside an inn before, I thought that was some Nord rite of passage or some such bollocks.

I think about my answer carefully, I don't want to tell her anything more then I want to think about. Cyrodiil holds a lot of pain but the truth is so does Skyrim and Hammerfell. I remember Nazir finding me in the brothel one night, shouting at me about how tragedy will always follow me. I left not too long after that and now I'm here, the only difference this time is I don't care if Serana lives or dies, not like Alisanne and certainly not like Astrid.

"Warmer than here." I grumble. That's the best way, always has been always will be. It's not really much of an answer at least to what she was asking or maybe I'm assuming too much about her intensions. I turn to look at her, she's watching me. I wasn't reading too much into the question. "Better than here." I add, giving her more to think about.

She continues staring at me, not looking away. It's me who breaks eye contact first, looking away and towards the priest. "Why did you leave?" She asks.

I stare at the priest, I can feel her eyes staring at me. Burning holes in me, demanding an answer. "No choice." I grumble in response. The war was spreading fast and I didn't want to wait and die, not like the others who hid in the sanctuary and just sat, waiting for their end to descend on them. I tried to take action. At least I tried.

She doesn't ask any more questions about Cyrodiil. At least she's bright enough to cotton on that when you say you had no choice then it's not a subject you want to talk about. At least I hope she is. There's a long silence, I've been sat in silence for a while now. I suppose I never really left Cyrodiil, I did but I'll always be there. Really by now I should be able to talk about it, maybe Nazir was right tragedy will always follow me.

I remember that well enough, I remember most things well enough, whether or not I learn from them is a different story but at least I remember them. I remember all of them the blood covered sand in Hammerfell, the burning streets of Bravil, the taste of my own dagger as the steel cut through my stomach. I remember being surprised at every little detail I uncovered as I cut my way through the Thalmor ranks, though if I was completely honest with myself it was only because I was too ignorant to look any further then the immediate threat in front of me.

"I grew up in Hammerfell." I mumble, looking down at the floor. "Left for Cyrodiil when I was fifteen." I grumble, looking at her. "That's all you need to know." I tell her, she nods slightly. That should stop some questions for a while, no doubt I'll get the questions about my family, why I left Hammerfell why I left Cyrodiil but for now that should keep them at bay.

We stare at each other for a few minutes. She wants to ask more I know she does, I would to. If she does she won't get any answers at least not the one's she wants. Our staring is abruptly interrupted by a cough and small groan as the Moth Priest finally wakes up. I push myself to my feet and the man gets on to his hands and knees.

I grab the top of his arm and pull him up, he grabs my forearm to steady himself. "Sorry about hitting you." Serana calls to him, he looks up squinting slightly. "It had to be done, I hope you know that."

"No, no." He groans, his voice is soft and he speaks in a quiet, respectful tone. "It's… quite alright." He finishes, dusting himself off as he sways on his feet slightly so I keep my hand on his back to try and steady him. "I believe I owe the two of you a debt for the timely rescue." He says looking at Serana. "My name is Dexion Evicus. I'm a Moth Priest of the White-Gold Tower." He tells us. "These…" He looks around slightly. "Vampires claimed they had some purpose for me, they didn't say what." He looks back at me. "Probably hoping to ransom me." He mumbles. "Fools."

"We know why they needed you." Serana announces, pushing herself up the wall, visibly trying to keep weight off of her injured leg. "We need you for the same purpose." She adds, leaning against the wall she flinches as she puts the slightest bit of weight on her leg. "We're working with the Dawnguard, we need you to read an Elder Scroll." She tells him.

He looks sceptical. "You have an Elder Scroll?" His mouth pulls into a grin when he sees that she's serious. "Remarkable!" He announces happily, he starts to walk towards her but my hand on his shoulder stops him. "Just tell me where to head."

"Fort Dawnguard." I answer, walking to the side slightly. Dexion looks at me. "Near Riften." I grumble walking over to Serana. "Get the guards to take you." I add, coming to a stop near her.

Dexion nods to himself. "Very well, I will inquire at the Dragon bridge guard post for an escort." He mumbles, walking over to the archway. "I hope the two of you have a safe journey." He tells us as he stands next to the stone archway.

"You to Dexion." Serana calls to him. "Don't trust anyone but the guards." She adds, he nods his agreement and quickly leaves. "Will he be safe with the guards?" She asks pushing against the wall to try and stand properly.

"They serve the Empire." I tell her, I offer her my arm and she gratefully takes it, putting her arm around my shoulders as I hook mine around her waist and help her walk. "Moth Priests are high up, that should encourage them to do as he says." We start to move for the exit, slowly. "We'll head back to the inn, you can rest up." I tell her she nods, the motion shaking her body slightly.

We pass by the partial wall and the dead death hound and I quickly stop to collect my bow. The bodies in the water have caused the stream to turn a dull red, or at least it looks dull in the dim light of the cave. We'll get back to the inn and rest up. Heal her leg.

* * *

><p>I push my shoulder into the inn door to open it, quickly barging in with Serana in tow. The landlord stops what he's doing to watch us as do a few of the patrons. We start to walk through the inn, Serana surprisingly light footed or at least in contrast to the heavy thud of my boots. I stop by a wall and Serana lets go of my shoulder, leaning against the wall.<p>

I walk over to the bar, just as loud as before. Most of everyone in here is drunk, that's good. I reach the bar and lean against it. "Oi!" I shout to the landlord, he turns around to look at me and then quickly comes over. "Room, two beds." I mumble, getting my coin out. "How much?"

"Ten septims." He tells me, not missing a beat. I put the coins on the bar and look around slightly. "Pick any room you want." He says, I look back at him. "They're all empty tonight."

I nod, looking over the crowd. "Cheers." I mumble walking back over to Serana. I help her get into one of the rooms, the one closest to her. I sit down on one of the beds and she does the same. "How's your leg?" I ask her gruffly, looking towards the open door.

"Painful." She replies. "When do we do it?" She asks following my gaze. Must be hurting if she wants to get it done this quick.

I stand back up and lean against the door frame. "We'll wait till one of them strays too close." I grumble to her. "Landlords otherwise occupied." I tell her, watching him eye up one of the more drunk and scantily clad Nord women. I glance back at Serana, sat there rubbing the wound.

One of the very drunk Nords starts to stray close to the door, stepping slightly out of the room I check no one's watching. They aren't. I grab him from behind, putting my hand over his mouth. I quickly drag him back into the room, Serana closes the door and I throw him back into the wall onto the bed I was sat on. He tries to get back up but I quickly end his struggling with my dagger in his stomach. He gasps and slumps back.

Serana struggles to get over with her leg but as soon as she does she sinks her teeth into his neck. I put my dagger away and sit down on the bed she was on, leaning my back against the wall. She pulls back slightly, looking at me with blood running down her chin. "I can taste the mead in his blood." She tells me. I grin slightly and she goes back to her feeding. At least he died with a good drink in him.

I lift my feet up, propping them up on the small table between the two beds. "I'll get rid of the body in the early hours." I tell her she doesn't respond just keeps feeding. "Dump the body near the river." She pulls away from the body, wiping the back of her hand against her mouth getting rid of the blood. There's a loud banging from the inn's main room, lots of shouting. I stand up, dropping my bow and arrow on the way to the door. "Wait here." I tell her, putting my hand on my swords hilt. I open the door slightly, only a crack.

It's pushed back into me hard, making me stumble away. A man runs in, a pale man with black hair, red eyes. I draw my sword just in time for him to swing his own down into its blade. I fall back onto the small table, Serana ducks back as the vampire swings his sword down at me again. I block the attack and kick him away getting up while I have the chance. I charge him, clashing our swords together. He hits me knocking my back into the wall hard. I groan as he goes if for the kill again, only just managing to stop his sword from blinding me I push away from the wall throwing us both out of the doorway and onto the floor.

He lands on his back, me on top. I ready to finish him off but a boot in my ribs throws me off and onto the floor. I roll to the side as a heavy steel mace slams into the floor, snapping the wooden boards. I quickly scramble to my feet, just in time to move away from the mace, the solid steel head only just misses my face and I use my left arm to push the second vampire's arms to the side using the momentum of the swing to throw him off balance. He turns away from me slightly and I kick the front of his ankles out from under him making him fall face first into the floor.

The first vampire gets to his feet another one comes into view and the second gets back to his feet. Serana comes out of the room, drawing her knife. They turn to look at her, her leg seems to be better now. She readies her knife and a spell in her left hand. Now the fights a bit more fair sided. The people still inside the inn watch on not offering any help.

The first vampire takes a step forward as does the second, the third one turns to Serana. I draw my dagger and stare down the two vampires. "Serana!" I shout to her catching her attention, I throw the dagger to her and the first vampire goes into swing his sword. I block the attack to my left and before I know it I'm switching sides to engage the mace on my right side. I hear the clash of steel from Serana and the third vampire.

The sword comes back in quickly and I lift my gauntlet up to evade the attack, the blade slicing the leather cleanly but the steel studs stop the blade from cutting into my arm and the thick leather manages to absorb most of the power. My arm still gives way and I struggle to keep the sword at bay, having to retreat from the mace as the vampire swings that at me again.

There's a loud crash and I see Serana get thrown onto a table, the vampire rushes at her trying to stab down with the sword but she moves away letting the sword slam into the table. I move away, blocking the mace and then quickly swinging my sword at the first vampire. I reach behind me and grab a glass bottle I swing it into the face of the second vampire, shattering the glass and cutting his face.

The first one slashes again and hit his arm back to the side quickly following it up by hitting him in the nose with the bottom of my swords hilt. He stumbles slightly and I wrap my arm around his neck, the mace is swung at me again and I duck down, letting it slam into the vampire's face. It smashes the bone and rips away the skin, leaving just the exposed muscle and bone. He drops down to the floor and I kick the other vampire hard in the stomach.

I see the third vampire get flipped onto his back and then Serana plunges both her knife and my dagger into his chest, turning him to dust. The vampire swings the mace again and I'm forced back into a table struggling to keep the mace away from my face as the vampire leans most of his weight against me and my sword. Serana comes up behind him, slamming my dagger into his shoulder and then putting her hands on his head and twisting sharply. There's a sickening dry crack and the vampire falls on the ground.

I push myself off the table and Serana crouches down stabbing her knife into the vampire's temple turning him to dust. I walk over to the first vampire he's on the floor, half of his face missing. I crouch down. He coughs loudly, dark blood coming up with it. "We were told it was just lady Serana." He gasps loudly. Serana hears him and walks over.

She stands over the dying vampire who's just sat there clawing at what's left of his face. "He lied." She snarls and I finish the vampire off, pushing my sword into his neck almost completely decapitating him before he turns to dust.

I stand up, looking around at the small crowd watching us. Serana passes me my dagger and I take it back without looking. "We should leave." I whisper to her, I start walking over to the room grabbing my bow and quiver of arrow. "Now." I call over to her in the silent room, she nods and walks over a slight rush to her steps.

We leave the inn quickly, walking away from the small village before someone goes and gets the few guards that will be left in the post. "My father is getting desperate." Serana tells me as we walk down the road. "If he's sending men to kill us then he either sees us as a threat or his need for that scroll is getting more desperate."

I nod to myself. "Doesn't matter." I grumble to her. "Anymore come and they'll fall just the same." I tell her, she nods not saying anything as we walk into the forest. It does matter, those vampires could have easily killed us if Serana's leg had still been injured we got lucky this time, next time might be different, there might be more of them next time.

The first few rays of light shine brightly over the horizon, making us pick up our pace. We'll find a cave or a shack. There has to be one.


	10. Chance

**Follows, favourites and reviews are appreciated, so if you want to then go ahead. Thanks to everyone who has done any of that and thanks to everyone who's read the story.**

**Word count.**

**Original: 1,111**

**Re-write: 2,743**

* * *

><p>Chapter X<p>

* * *

><p>Chance<p>

* * *

><p>Mortis<p>

* * *

><p>I pant heavily, breathing hard. Serana's in front of me, leading the way at a half run half sprint. I grip my dagger and glance behind me, trying to keep steady as I follow her at a distance of around fifteen meters. There's the shadow again, between the trees. My hood falls down, letting my wet hair fall in front of my eyes. I grit my teeth, struggling to breathe and force myself to keep going.<p>

I can feel the sweat dripping down my face, running off my hair and beard. The suns beginning to shine through the trees not yet bright enough for it to be a danger to Serana but still enough for her to worry. There has to be a hunting shack or a cave or something, a cottage, an inn, anything. There's a shout from behind us, I glance back. Nothing I can see.

I slip in the mud, grabbing a tree to keep myself from falling over it doesn't work and I roll with the fall quickly getting back to my feet. Serana stops running, turning to look at me. "Keep going!" I call to her getting back to a run.

She sees it before me, a small wooden shack lying in the middle of the woods, between the trees barely visible. She runs straight at the small building and without slowing down she slams her shoulder into the wooden door and it flies open, Serana falling onto her hands and knees inside. I reach the door and ready my bow and arrow, nocking an arrow and aiming for the treeline. The man, the vampire that's been shadowing us for the past thirty minutes comes into view. I let go off the arrow and it slams into his knee, splitting the bone and throwing him to his face.

I drop the bow down to my side and push my wet hair out of my face. I turn to look at Serana and she ducks back into the deepest, darkest corner. Her eyes are visible in the shadows. I drop the wooden recurve bow to the floor, it lands with a heavy thump. I draw my dagger and walk out to the injured vampire.

"Heretic!" He snarls at me. "Bastard and heretic!" He growls, rolling onto his back. "Honourless bastard!" He shouts, bearing his teeth as he says it. "Fight like a coward and not as a man!" He continues shouting at me, gripping the arrow as his screaming continues.

I hang my head a bit, letting out a long sigh and sliding my dagger back into my sheath resting my hands on my belt. "The sun will be visible through those trees." I interrupt, pointing at where the sun will completely shine through. "You've got ten minutes." I grumble crouching down to his level. "You're going to die." I let him know. He watches me carefully. "Whether that's slow or quick is on you." I tell him.

He nods his head, seemingly calmer than before. "Very well mortal." He spits at me. "Ask your questions." He demands.

I lean back on the balls of my feet. "Harkon." I grumble. "How many has he sent?" I rasp, I'm still breathing heavily having not caught my breath back completely.

"You'll die mortal." He says, his voice rumbling in his chest. "It's only a matter of time. We all used to be like you… slow, weak, messing with things we didn't understand." He snarls at me, showing his elongated teeth, his red eyes.

The sun starts to shine brighter near the shack. "Hmm." I mumble, glancing back down at the vampire. "Seems I was wrong." I grumble. I stand up and start to walk back to the shack, I hear a guttural scream and then the crackle of flames and a loud raspy growl. I slam the door behind me, looking at Serana as she walks over to the back of the room.

"Someone's been living here." She mumbles, I raise an eyebrow and lean against the door. "That plate." She says gesturing to a small wood plate with a few small scraps of meat and some small bones on it. "Still warm." She tells me. I walk over, pulling my gauntlet off and picking up the plate. It's only just warm but when I pick up one of the bones I can feel the slight heat on it. "The fire as well." I put the bone back down and look at her. "Still embers." I slowly place the plate back where I found it.

I walk over to a chair in the corner and slump down into it Serana sits on one opposite me, in the dark. I lean back and start to twist the ring on my finger. I look up at her and she's just watching me mess absently with the ring. I pull my other gauntlet off and tuck that one under my belt with the other, rubbing my hands together I look down.

"Where did you learn how to fight?" I ask her looking back up as the last word leaves my mouth. She looks at me, thinking hard. I don't push for an answer, we've got plenty of time and if we're going to have a conversation I might as well drag it out a bit.

She chews the inside of her cheek for a few seconds before answering. "My family were not always the leaders of the Volkihar court." She starts, leaning back. "When we first arrived there was another lord. My father wants power over mortals and he saw gaining the control of the court the best way to do that." She pauses and her eyes shift to look at the floor. "My father argued that we should keep the blood line pure, the others argued that we needed the strength that only numbers can give." She looks back up at me, leaning forward. "It was bloody and brutal but my father took power." She looks at the door. "He started a dynasty and killed any who opposed."

I nod to myself. Her father took control by killing the others, he wants power over mortals. Maybe the Dawnguard are justified in their brutal methods of trying to bring this supposed vampire menace down. Maybe the Dawnguard are just as bad, maybe they're just the lesser of two evils.

"The Dawnguard were the first organised group of vampire hunters." She tells me, she's explained some of the Dawnguard's history before, brutal and harsh. "But they were not the last. After my father took control of the court groups flocked like vultures." She says. "They had heard word of a coup through whichever means they had and they attacked." She leans back again. "We had to fight to survive and my father insisted we survive, he had his dynasty and he insisted on protecting his bloodline. He taught me how to fight and then let the hunters attack the keep."

"Bold strategy." I grumble leaning forward and resting my elbows on my knees. "How many were the hunters?" I ask her, staring straight at her. If they had more man power then the Dawnguard then the clever thing would be to leave now. I grin to myself slightly, the corner of my mouth pulling up. When have I ever done the clever thing?

"I don't know exactly." She starts. "They were more than the Dawnguard." She tells me. "But not as well equipped." She adds.

The door opens, the hinges creaking. A man walks in, a Nord with a sword at the ready a bow on his back, a couple of dead birds hanging from a length of rope tied around his shoulder. He glares at me and then Serana. "Who are you people?" He demands aggressively, I stand up and he turns the sword on me, the tip at my chest. "Were you the ones behind that trouble in Dragon bridge." He takes a step forward and I take one back in response. "Seven people dead." He growls. "Good Nord men and women."

Serana backs away from the open door, letting light spill into the room. "Seven?" She asks, stopping once she gets to the corner.

"Play innocent with me." He grumbles. "I know your kind." He snarls at me. "Now you're going to kill me aren't you?" He spits at me, he looks at Serana over his shoulder. He turns back to me, looking me up and down.

Serana takes a couple of slow steps forward. She nods to me, hitting her foot against the floor the man turns to her. I knock his sword to the side and push him back into Serana, she catches his upper arms and then without hesitation bites down on the side of his neck. He screams in pain his eyes widen and he looks at me, begging for help eyes filling with tears. I turn away and close the door, sitting back down in my chair.

I start to mess with the ring.

* * *

><p>We push open the heavy doors together, the loud creaking echoes around the hall as we enter. I hear a click and look up, one of the Dawnguard is on the balcony, crossbow aimed down at us. Their face and body masked by the intimidating armour and the deep shadows created by the torch light. The crossbow is clear enough though, easily visible at the angle their holding it. The helmet covers the entire face, not giving anything away. If they were to head to Riften and show the people who now protects them from the creatures of the night, they'd probably run from them.<p>

There's the sound of running, armour clanking with the steps and then three more of the Dawnguard turn the corner crossbows raised. "Isran has been waiting on your return." One of them says, looking at me or at least I think he's looking at me. "Through the back." He tells me, stepping to the side with his back against the wall, crossbow pulled to his chest. I walk through the doorway with Serana not far behind.

The back of the fort is cluttered with crates, barrels and small tables with the tell-tale signs of crossbow related holes in them. Isran is in what looks like a mess, a long table with food and tankards on it, a few empty bottles of mead and ale scattered about. Isran is sat at the table eating a chunk of bread, Dexion is sat next to him reading a book.

"Isran." I grumble as I walk over to the table. He looks up at me and gives a quick, short nod. I sit down in one of the chairs on the other side of the table, opposite Isran, Serana sits down next to me.

"You've arrived safely." Dexion says, he closes the book carefully and puts it down on the table just as carefully. He looks at Serana and then to me. "I trust there were no complications." He says.

"Aye." I mutter. "Few, we dealt with them." I tell him, picking up one of the bottles on the table and pulling the cork out. I take a swig and Isran just nods to himself.

"Are you ready?" Isran grumbles turning to Dexion. "To read the scroll?" He adds, staring the man down. There's tension between the two of them, not sure what it is. Maybe Dexion doesn't trust Isran, can't say I really blame him.

Serana leans forward on the table. "We need you to read it as soon as possible." She says to him, she leans her elbows on the table and stares at Dexion, waiting for his reply.

"Why so eager vampire?" Isran demands, glaring at her. He leans forward, getting in her face she leans back in response. "I don't know what you're planning but I will find out and I will end it." He tells her.

"Read the scroll." I order the priest, he jumps in his chair as I say it. Isran looks at me oddly and Serana just looks to the priest. "Now!" I shout at him. That makes him get up and gesture for the scroll, Serana passes the otherworldly artefact to him and he clears his throat.

He stands up and closes his eyes, slowly unwinding the scroll from its metal housing. There's a long pause, a deadly silence in which none of us dare to speak. "I see a vision before me." Dexion says, his voice sounding strange after the utter silence. "An image of a great bow. Auriel's bow." There's another long stretch of silence. "Among the night's children a dread lord will rise." There's more silence. "In an age of strife when dragons return to the realm of men, darkness will mingle with light and the night and the day will become as one." Serana looks up sharply as he says dragons. "The secret of the bow's power is written elsewhere. The potency of ancient blood there is another scroll." He stops speaking, just reading. "My vision darkens and I see no more. To know more we must acquire the other scroll."

He rolls it up, looking completely exhausted and like he's going to collapse at any moment. Isran stands up and puts his hand on the man's shoulder. "Come with me." He tells him gruffly.

I and Serana sit in silence. I just stare at the table. If Serana's story didn't seem real before it does now. Among the night's children a dread lord will rise. If that doesn't sound ominous then what does, a dread lord in an age of strife. Could that be the Empire and the Stormcloaks or the Empire and the Dominion?

"I think I might know where we can find the other scroll." Serana mumbles, I look at her and she just stares at the wall. She rings her hands.

"Where?" Fuck the money. This is it, my one chance to fix what I've done. I can rest easy, just one more job.

She looks at me. "My mother, I believe she took it with her when she went into hiding." She rests heavily on the table. "I just don't know where she went."

I look down at the table. "Where would she go?" I ask her. I need to know. I need to do this. I look at the woman next to me. She needs my help, I don't think she'd ever say it but I know she does. This is my chance, I've let too many die. Had my chance to stop it but I chose to ignore everything around me. I chose this road and now I must walk it.

She nods to herself. "Before she put me in the crypt she that she would go where he will never look." She shakes her head, looking at the wall. "I don't know." She pauses, looking at me. "It was cryptic but she called attention to it."

I stare at her. This doesn't seem like it's going to lead to any answers, just more questions. It could be considered cryptic but is it really worth chasing up. "Where wouldn't he look?"

"I can't think of any where he wouldn't look." She answers still staring at me. "He's had all this time." She adds. There's a long pause, she stares blankly at me, thinking. "Castle Volkihar." She mumbles looking away from me and back to the wall.

I stare at her, watching her just sit there. Heading back to Volkihar without an army at our backs would most likely be suicide. Maybe she has a better idea of how to get in without dying. I lean back in my chair, and follow her gaze.

"There's an old dock under the cliff." She mutters. I glance at her from the corner of my eye. "Very old, it hasn't been used for a long time at least not since my father took power." She looks at me. "His dynasty and pure blooded ideals made us cut contact with the outside world." She just stares at me for a while. "We can sneak in there."

I take a swig of my drink. "Isran won't like the thought of you heading back to Volkihar." I look at her fully now. "We'll leave at next dusk." I tell her, standing up I start to walk to the back of the fort. Towards the bunks, hopefully I can rest easy tonight.


	11. Lead Me Home

**Follows, favourites and reviews are appreciated, so if you want to then go ahead. Thanks to everyone who has done any of that and thanks to everyone who's read the story.**

**Word count.**

**Original: 1,971**

**Re-write: 3,466**

* * *

><p>Chapter XI<p>

* * *

><p>Lead me home<p>

* * *

><p>Mortis<p>

* * *

><p>We both just sit in silence, Serana hasn't been as talkative as she normally is the only sounds are my breathing and the dull lapping of the waves against the side of the boat. The oars clank against the boat every now and then as I row towards the small isolated island. I look up from the bottom of the boat and at her. She stares over my shoulder. At her home.<p>

The air is cold and there's a thick mist sitting on top of the water. The moon lights the way, illuminating just how pale Serana is. I watch her as she just blankly stares at the castle on the island. So this could be it, the last thing I have to do to get her home. Help her find the scroll and then I'm done, I can go back to sitting in that brothel and killing low life thieves for money. The good old days.

"Where's this dock then?" I ask her, the first time either of us has spoken since leaving Fort Dawnguard. Serana shifts her eyes over to mine just looking at me, maybe through me.

She looks back to the island and points to an area over my shoulder, I look at the spot, following her gaze. "It's on that side." She answers. There's a pause as I row the boat. "There." She grumbles, I look over my shoulder again and can now clearly see the slightly sunken and cavernous stone dock built into the rock.

The silence returns. Although I don't believe in talking just to fill up a silence I still feel uncomfortable sat here in silence with someone who I know likes to speak. She's pretty much been talkative from the moment we've met only really leaving out the non-stop chatter when she knows that I won't give her an answer.

At least the waters are calm, makes this trip only just slightly more comfortable. I stare at her again, she's still just watching the castle. This is it, I'm leading her home this is what I promised to do and I'm doing it right now. Really I could argue that I did this exact same thing that first day. No, this is my chance to do something that doesn't just result in death, my whole life has been leading up to this point right now. I've cut a very bloody path to get here and I'm not about to let the opportunity pass me by, you're supposed to only get one of these chances and I've already wasted two of them.

The boat hits the gravel and rock of the shore, bringing us to an abrupt stop. Serana gets out straight away her boots splashing through the shallow water. She walks around to the bow and wraps her fingers around it. I quickly pull the oars in and follow her lead, helping pull the boat onto the shoreline.

As soon as that's done she starts to walk towards the dock, moving as quickly as she can. I follow her, lagging behind as I keep my hand on my dagger. We turn the corner of the rock outcropping and the dock comes fully into sight, I grab her shoulder to stop her she looks at me over her shoulder, looking confused. I quickly peek around the corner and scan the area. Nothing. No guards, none of those dog things not even any gargoyles to dissuade people from approaching.

I look from the right to the left and then back again before I finally conclude that the dock is entirely empty. I look back at Serana and raise an eyebrow, she just walks forward towards the dock, shrugging my hand off her shoulder as she does. She walks quickly, looking from side to side as she does.

"Father used to guard it." She calls to me as I follow behind her, I step over an old skeleton, the bones brownish with age. There's some other skeletons shackled to the side of the dock, half hanging in the water. I stop by one and crouch down to get a better look at it. "When the tide comes in it swallows the majority of the dock." I stand up and look at her. "These men would have either drowned or died of starvation." She starts to walk away again. "It was the latter for most of them. I used to come down here and hear their screams." She walks over to heavy wooden door. "And then I used to come down here and hear nothing."

She opens the door, the hinges screaming in protest as it swings open. She walks in, glancing around at me to make sure I'm following. "Find a torch." I tell her, staying by the door where it's reasonably lighter. I pull my pack round and start rifling through, searching for my flint. Serana walks back over to me and holds the torch out, I quickly use the flint to light it and then take it out of her hands, holding it out in front of me.

Serana starts to lead the way, not bothering to check any of the side rooms, she must know exactly which way to head. She's gone completely silent again, a cold, detached focus settling in as she leads us through the dilapidated corridors. "What was it like?" I ask her, saying the first thing I can think of to break the silence and make anything about this even slightly more bearable for myself. Besides when you start acting cold and detached, you become cold and detached. "Living in the castle." I clarify for her after not receiving an answer.

She doesn't answer for a few moments, instead focusing on moving forward, ignoring my question or just thinking carefully. It's a personal question and I suppose she's probably wary about how much she gives away. I was. "Lonely." She finally tells me. That single word carrying so much meaning, so much weight there's no need for her to continue but she will. "Do you have any idea what it's like? Living without friends, really without family?" She asks me back and I do. I know all too well what it's like. She stops walking and so do I, out of instinct more than anything but my feet feel heavy now and I just listen to what she has to say. She searches my eyes for an answer but I look away. "You do." She mutters. "Don't you?"

"I know what I know." I tell her looking up to meet her gaze. The world is a cruel place and most of us aren't lucky enough to grow up in a castle and have a family and friends, seems to be one or the other and in my case neither. "I was born in Cyrodiil, I never knew my mother or my father." I nod my head forward, gesturing her to start leading the way again. "I've made peace with that."

She starts to lead the way again, walking quickly. I've made peace with that, I have. "Did you ever meet them?" She asks me, looking over her shoulder. After a few moments of silence she turns away and stops waiting for an answer.

"Never wanted to." I mutter to her in reply. She stops walking and turns to face me, I rest my hand on my belt and just watch her, waiting to see how she reacts. I squint slightly as I look at her, focusing on her face in the limited light.

She stares at me. I suppose if you've never really felt love from your parents then you can't understand someone who's never really wanted to know or even meet their parents. "Well, what about family… is there anyone in your life?" Anyone? There used to be, there used to be a few people. I suppose there's only really Nazir left, Babette and I never really got along. She and Astrid basically ran the brotherhood together but she's gone now.

"No." I grumble. I look down at the floor then back to her face, she looks sad, maybe she's starting to like me. I suppose I am the only person she's met after coming out of that crypt who hasn't tried to kill her. "Just me."

She turns around and starts to lead us through the corridors again. "Does it bother you that I'm here?" She asks me, glancing at me over her shoulder.

"I'm used to less noise." I answer her. I don't bother to mention that I'm also used to being half drunk in an inn, or unconscious in a brothel. I remember when I used to takes things at least half seriously, or at least got them done. "It doesn't bother me though." I add, might as well try and make her feel a bit welcome, I don't really have a reason to antagonise her.

She stops at a heavy looking wooden door. "Here." She mumbles to herself, opening it slowly. "We need to be quiet." She whispers walking over the threshold and into a new set of corridors. The stone walls are dirty, covered in moss and the majority of the ground is flooded. Serana walks slowly, trying her hardest not to splash her boots in the water. I follow behind her, moving around the water and over to the dry part of the ground.

There's a bang in the distance. Serana spins around quickly, readying a spell in her left hand. I draw my dagger and hold the torch further out. I look around slowly scanning the corridor. There's a splash somewhere in the distance, sounding like it's on the other side from the first noise.

"Scare tactics." Serana mumbles to me. I turn my head to look at her and raise an eyebrow. "The feral use them to hunt." She tells me. The feral? There's another splash a bang and then a quick scratching sound, echoing through the corridors.

There's another splash, sounding a lot louder now. I turn in the direction it came from, torch held ready in my left hand and my dagger ready in my other. A mer no a vampire rushes down the corridor on all fours. It's naked and thin, cuts and old scars covering its body. There's another splash and a heavy bang from behind me but Serana will have to deal with that. The vampire gets closer and I swing the torch at it, it ducks back with a loud screech. I see it now more clearly, its low brow covered in veins and pulled down. Its teeth are a lot sharper, it's fangs a lot longer. Its skin is much paler and looks sickly, unlike Serena and the other vampires I've seen.

It throws itself at me, and I step back swinging the torch at it again. It seems to be wary of the fire. It lashes out with its arm, sharp nails only just missing me. Maybe my armour would stop them but I don't really put much hope in testing it. This is what the feral are then, vampires that in no way act like the mortals they appear to be and instead hunt like an animal. There's a brutal honesty to that. I swing the torch again and the vampire jumps on me, knocking us both to the ground. I drop the torch and stab my dagger into its stomach. I push its body up and off me while it cranes its head and snaps its teeth at my face.

I push up again and Serana comes up over us both, she pulls the vampire up by its chest and runs her knife across the back of its neck, making it screech again, the ear splitting sound echoing uncomfortably around the stone walls. She pulls it off me and I grab my dagger from its stomach, slamming the blade into its eye and pushing through to the brain. It turns to dust on top of me and I quickly get to my feet, brushing it off.

"What was that?" I grumble, picking up the torch. Serana starts to walk again and I follow her. The corridors are now completely silent, completely empty. "The feral?" I ask her, reminding her of the question she hasn't answered yet.

She looks at me and then back forward. "The feral is what happens when we stop feeding." She tells me. "If a vampire doesn't feed for long enough then the bloodlust becomes too much and the daedra finally take the body for themselves." She rushes ahead slightly, I pick up my own pace to keep up with her. "They're not vampires anymore. We just call them the feral." She turns a corner and just carries on walking obviously she knows every inch of this place. "I used to come down here a lot." She tells me.

I don't really care about her life before she met me but I still don't really want to walk around in complete silence. I've lived in the dark and the quiet for too long. "Why?" I grumble to her, hoping for a short answer but still an answer. "What was it like back then?" I ask, might as well let her think I'm interested.

She glances back at me, a small smile gracing her features. "Well the latrine would flood every now and then." She mumbles, she gives a very short choked laugh. "The smell… well just be glad you weren't here then." She tells me.

I go to say something, but the words are lost in the wake of a loud wail followed by a few more of those deafening screeches. "We should hurry." I tell her. She gives me a nod and rushes off, opening a door and squeezing passed some rubble, long forgotten by anyone it seems.

"The courtyard should be just through here." She mumbles moving a large wooden table out of the way. She opens the last door and rushes through into the night air. I'm close behind, closing the door on my way through. "Oh no…" I turn to face her. She looks around the courtyard. Well what's left of it. Most of it looks to be in disarray, rubble and rubbish littering the ground and any plants that might've been here long since destroyed. She walks over to some stairs and slumps down onto them. I walk around a bit before approaching her. "Do you have any idea how beautiful a garden like this can be when it's tended by an expert for over a hundred years?" She asks me, looking up with anger clear in her eyes.

I can imagine I crouch down in front of her. "We don't have time for this." I tell her. "You can cry over the garden later, right now we need to find this scroll." She just looks away from me, ignoring me. Probably wasn't the best tactic, though what was she expecting from an assassin. I just ignore her childish reaction and walk away. There's a large metal strut in the middle of the courtyard, looks like it's made of bronze. I step over to it. "Is this the lunar cycle?" I call over to Serana, I look at her to see if she'll even acknowledge me.

"Why?" She groans looking up from the steps. She just stares at me, annoyance clear in her expression. She gets up and walks over to me.

"Parts are missing." I grumble to her, brushing my fingers over one of this missing parts. "This isn't complete."

"What?" She crouches down next to me. "This was built specially, I always wondered what the point of having it was." She mumbles. "Maybe it's only here to cover something up." She stands up, facing me. "Maybe if we find the missing parts…" She trails off.

"Get to it." I grumble standing up and walking over to one of the destroyed flower beds. "We're running out of time." I call to her, looking up at the sky the red tint slowly swallowing the blackness. I push some of the burnt and dead bushes out of the way, there's a small circular piece of bronze lying on the floor, clouded purple glass laying in the middle, soot staining the surface. I pick it up, the glass is shaped like a crescent moon. "Found one." I call to her.

"I've got the other." She answers walking over to the strut. She crouches down putting hers in place and I walk around to find where my own goes. There. I put it on the small fixture on the ground, turning it so it locks in place. There's a loud click and a metallic clunk. I step back and look at Serana, she walks around slightly. Looking at all the pieces showing the stages of the lunar cycle. Coming to a stop at the new moon. "There's some runes." She mumbles.

"What does it say?" I ask her, walking over to stand next to her. I see it, the Nordic language. I can't read it myself but Serana should be able to.

"Valerica." She mumbles crouching down and turning the ornament, so the runes are facing the strut. There's a click and that clunk again, followed by another and then the strut turns, unveiling a stair case.

I look down the stair case and Serana moves in front, stopping at the top. "Your mother's cunning." I mumble stepping forward, stopping next to her.

"Certainly more so than I gave her credit for." She replies, stepping down the stairs and into the inky blackness. She pulls an unlit torch off the wall and I start going through my pack, looking for the flint. "I've never be in these tunnels." She tells me. We come to a door and Serana tries to open it, resulting in her slamming her shoulder into it in order to brake the lock. "We should be careful. Mother used to have a thing for magical constructs." She mutters.

"Don't think we'll find her?" I ask her. She stops walking and turns to me, I can barely see her in the darkness. "You talk about her in the past tense." I clarify, finally pulling out the flint.

She holds the torch out to me and I get to work on lighting it. "It's just been so long." She answers me softly. The flint sparks and the torch bursts to life. "Oh!" Serana exclaims, I look up at her and then around where we are. A room full of gargoyles. "It's a dead end." She mumbles, I turn to her and she's staring at the gargoyles.

"Fireplace." I grumble. "We already know your mothers adept at hiding entrances." I tell her, walking over to it, Serana close on my heels. I put my hand on the wall and feel around for a fake brick or anything. I look around at the fireplace for anything then I see them. Candle holders on the wall, directly next to the fireplace. I put my hand on one and push down. Nothing. I turn to the other and press down on it, it sinks down and so does the fireplace exposing a wooden and iron door. "Serana." I croak. She turns to me and I go through the door, she rushes through and drops a crossbar in front of it.

I walk around the room slightly, lighting a fire pit in the middle with my torch. It lights the room up, casting deep shadows in the corners. Serana walks over to one of the bookshelves and starts going through some of the old tomes. There's a stone spiral carved into the ground in the centre of the room, a balcony overlooking it.

"What is this place?" I look at Serana as she carries on looking at the books.

"I don't know." She mutters. She looks around at me and then walks over. "By the looks of it she was trying to enhance her necromancy." She tells me. Looking around the room and taking everything in. "Mother was meticulous in her… studies, she would have kept notes."

I walk over to the book shelve. "You mean as a journal?" Serana nods to me and I start pulling books off, searching for a journal. There it is, a small brown leather bound book. I pull it off and pass it to Serana wordlessly.

"This is it." She mutters opening the small book and flicking through the pages. It cracks slightly as it opens. "I never thought she'd be able to do it." She mumbles.

"Do what?" I ask her, stepping closer. She doesn't answer me just carries on reading. "Serana?" I grumble.

She looks up at me. "She opened a portal to the Soul Cairn."


	12. Honour Thy Family

**Follows, favourites and reviews are appreciated, so if you want to then go ahead. Thanks to everyone who has done any of that and thanks to everyone who's read the story.**

**Word count.**

**Original: 2,464**

**Re-write: 5,567**

* * *

><p>Chapter XII<p>

* * *

><p>Honour thy family<p>

* * *

><p>Mortis<p>

* * *

><p>I walk over to the pedestal that's overlooking the carved stone spiral. Putting the shards of crystal into the stone bowl with the rest of the list. "That's all of the ingredients?" I call over to Serana who's still stood looking through the journal, she has her back to me, leaning against a railing, her head hung low as she reads the words on the old paper. I wait for her to finish what she's reading, looking at the small collection of objects.<p>

She closes the book sharply, pushing herself away from the railing and turning to walk up the steps to where I am. "We have a problem." She calls up to me as she walks up the stairs. "To open the portal we need her blood." She tells me, reaching the top of the steps she moves over to a set of shelves and starts looking at the assortment of objects scattered on them. "Which if we could get we wouldn't need to use the portal." She mumbles, looking at me sideways.

I lean against the railing, pulling one of the shards out of the bowl to look at it better. The surface is smudged and scratched, cracked where it was broken from the rest of the crystal. I hold the shard up to the light of a nearby torch, letting the light shine through the dark purple almost black crystal. "I used to know someone who said he could hear the screams of the damned in these things." I grumble, Serana looks over at me again. I stand there, staring at the cracked soul gem. I quickly drop it back in the bowl. "He was full of shite." I mumble.

"Who was he?" She asks from by the shelves, I look up at her, she's still looking over the shelves. That's a good question, I never really got to the know any of them, never really wanted to get to know any of them. I knew Astrid and I knew Nazir, that's as far as I can tell. Can't even remember the other's names. There was those before them, in Gildi and then the other sanctuary. They're even further away, hidden in the memories of a man who doesn't exist anymore.

"A dead man."

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><p>20 years before the reformation of the Dawnguard<p>

* * *

><p>We sit in the old damp stone walled room. Water drips from the ceiling, creating a soft tapping on the stone floor. The only torch in the room casts deep shadows around the walls. I sit on one of the two stools in here, left hand resting on the hilt of my sword. I lift up the crystal to the light of the torch. The greyish blue lighting up as I do.<p>

I look passed it to the other man in the room. The aging, crippled warrior staring at his own crystal, a sack of them in his other hand. He looks at me, his blue eyes staring at my own green ones. "You know what these are boy?" He asks, his voice scratches as he speaks, sounding deeper in the cramped stone room.

"No." I answer him. He nods slightly. He puts his away and I throw the one I was looking at over to him, he catches it and stares intently at it. "In five days' time, the Empire will be here to collect Frokunn's head." I grumble to him. "They're already on the march, when they get here how they kill us will be entirely in their hands."

Dagmek's face splits into a smirk. "We won't retreat boy." He holds the crystal up to the light. "We're Nords, the last true Nords." He looks at me. "When the Empire get here they'll fight like the cowards they are, hide behind our own wars and use their siege weapons to try and force a surrender." He stares at me again. "We won't allow them that, we will die with the blood of the Empire on our blades." He growls at me. "With mead in our stomachs and an axe in each hand." He grins again. "The Empire will die with shite in their armour." He looks at the crystal. "And if I die in five days' time, then it'll be with a whore's mouth on my cock."

I smirk at that. Doesn't mean I plan on staying here and waiting to die but that doesn't sound like a bad way to go. Just have to find myself a whore. "What are these then?" I ask, gesturing to the crystal in his hand.

"Soul gems." He grumbles in response. He stares at the small crystal, then looks at me. "A soul trapped inside." He looks at me. "Some of that Altmer shite." He spits, looking back at the crystal. "Still, I can see it." He stares at the Crystal in his hand. "Hear the screams of the damned." He looks at me. "Of dead men." He puts the soul gem in the sack with the others. "I can't think of a fate worse than that." He puts the sack on the one of shelves. "Kvenkir's blood runs through your veins, the blood of a leader." He stares at me. "Would you retreat?" He grumbles.

* * *

><p>I lean heavily against the railing and glance down at the stone spiral carved on the floor. "You're her daughter." I grumble to her. She walks closer to me and comes to a stop. "The same blood runs through your veins as hers." I look at her, she nods to herself and glances down at the spiral.<p>

"Mistakes with these types of rituals can be catastrophic." She mumbles. "The Soul Cairn may be extremely dangerous." She nods absently to herself and glances at the pedestal. "If we fail to retrieve the Scroll the outcome will also be catastrophic."

"Harkon can't open the portal by himself." I mumble resting my hand on my belt. I look at Serana. "We could just leave it." I grumble. If Harkon's plans are reliant on the Scroll then we could just end it right now by burning the book. Although Isran and Serana will find a way to drag me back in, make me solve their problems. They need help and I'm in need of direction, I've been wandering too long.

"You're right." She draws her knife and walks over to the pedestal, closing her hand over the blade. "My father may not be able to get the Scroll but he will do anything to ensure his survival and clutch onto his power." She drags the knife along her palm and lets the blood fall into the basin. There's a brief silence Serana opens her mouth, looking like she's about to say something when the basin catches fire, purple flames jumping from the bowl. The spiral starts to turn the stone grinding against itself as they turn and rise to form steps. "We have to stop him." She tells me, a purple orb forms at the bottom of the newly formed stairs. "She actually did it." She mumbles looking at the portal.

I stare at the purple light. The deep purple burning brightly as black seeps into the middle. I glance at Serana, she's busy putting her knife back into the small sheath on her belt. "How…?" I trail off Serana looks at me and raises an eyebrow. "Do we… just walk into it?" I question her, she looks off to the portal and nods. I start to walk down, towards the ever changing orb of light. The middle becomes white and the edges burn a deeper purple then before. I can hear them, the screams of the damned, the whispers of the dead. I stop at the edge and close my eyes.

"Step on in."

I open my eyes and look around at Serana, she's stopped moving, looks to be waiting for me to make a move. I know who it was and it wasn't her. The clawing in my skull. I take another step and I feel it, my breath gets shallower and slower. My skin starts to burn and I can feel a shiver run down my spine. My legs give way and I fall onto the hard stone steps, letting out a loud grunt as I hit them. Serana runs down the steps and grabs my arm, helping me up and back to the top of the stairs. I slump down at the top of them and rest my back on the stone railing.

Serana paces in front of me while I try and get a hold of myself again. "Are you alright?" She asks me as I look up at her, I rest my head back. "That looked painful." She mumbles to me.

I let out a low grunt, grumbling to myself as I look at her properly again. "It was." I grumble, giving my hand out for her to help me up, she helps me stand up and I lean against the railing. I clear my throat and look down at the portal again. "What happened?"

"It was my fault." She mumbles to me, I look at her and she rings her hands again. "I should have seen that coming." There's a pause as I suppose she searches for the right words. "The Soul Cairn requires payment." I push away from the railing. "Your soul." I grunt slightly in response. "It didn't try and take mine because a vampire is technically dead."

I rest my hand on my belt, hooking my thumb on my dagger. "So you have to be dead to travel to the Soul Cairn." I grumble, she goes to answer but I don't listen to what she says. I don't need confirmation for what's obvious in life. I was looking for a way to make it better but this isn't it, at least not now. I don't think I'm at that point yet.

"… There is another way though." I hear that, after the silence I've exiled myself to. I look up at her quickly. "It's dangerous and painful." She adds, looking at me, staring straight into my eyes. "I can partially soul trap you, give that to the Ideal Masters." She looks away from me and to the portal. "Hopefully it will be enough." She rings her hands again, looking back to me. "Whatever option you choose, I won't think any less of you."

I nod to myself, wiping the back of my hand over my mouth. "Hmm." I grunt. I walk away from her, heading down to the bookshelf, I start running my finger over the spines of them. I can't read any of them, not unless they're written in the Cyrodiilic language. I pick out one of the books holding the old, dusty and battered leather-bound book in my hand. There's scratching on the front, tears in the leather.

"What will the price be?" I call over to Serana, turning my head slightly to look at her. "Of the soul trapping?" I ask her, I let the book drop from my grip and land on the floor. "There's always a price. What is it?"

"You'll be weaker in the soul cairn." She leans against the railing. "Only in the Soul Cairn, if it all goes fine you should be alright while in Nirn." She looks down and rings her hands. "If you were to become a vampire if I was to bite you, change you…" She looks up from her hands, locking her gaze on me. "You'll be just as strong in the Soul Cairn as you are in Nirn, you'll be stronger, quicker…"

"Dead." I interrupt. I'm not ready to die or maybe I am, I've been ignoring life for the last ten years. Maybe it's finally caught up to me, maybe I can finally let go. I move my left arm and curl my hand into a fist, its weak nowhere as strong as I could once muster. My bodies ready but I'm not. "Soul trap." I grumble lowly, so low that I hope maybe she didn't hear me.

"Are you sure?" She asks, I hang my head slightly but walk up the steps to meet her on the small stone overhang. "It's very dangerous and I've never done it before." She looks nervous, too nervous. She'll be more likely to fuck up if she's nervous. I need to reassure her, make sure she thinks I have faith in her. Maybe I do.

"I trust you."

She looks at me properly now. Nods her head with a newfound resolve, that confidence I've seen when she fights. Not the nervousness around Harkon and Isran or even me, this is a warrior and if she wants to free herself she'll need to be a warrior. She pulls her knife out and gestures for me to remove my glove. I do so, taking the thick leather glove from my left hand. She holds the knife out and I grip the blade, feeling the sharpened steel edge slice into the skin. She pulls down quickly, casting a spell with her free hand that has a soul gem tucked between two of her fingers.

"You're a fool." The voice whispers over my shoulder. Then I see it, a young man dressed in rough clothes, he swings a roughly forged iron axe at me, my axe, my head. I flinch back, pulling my right arm up to block the attack, pulling my left arm up to help. Nothing comes.

"I'm sorry." Serana tells me, I open my eyes not realising I'd closed them. My hand burns, the cut throbbing with each thump of my fast beating heart. "You know I'd never do anything to hurt you right?"

I look up at her, it takes a few seconds for my eyes to focus on her face. I just stand there at a loss for words while she wraps a rag around the gash on my hand. She stops and stares at the dull ring for a minute. "I wasn't lying." I tell her, she looks at me and nods.

* * *

><p>The Soul Cairn feels strange. The air thick with something I can't quite work out. I stop at the top of the steps that must have formed when the portal opened. Serana goes straight down. I lift my hand up, looking at the rag tied tightly around my hand. I turn my head to the side slightly. The sky is dark, purplish. Dead tress dotting the landscape, if they are trees.<p>

I feel a lot weaker, too weak. I can feel the old aching in my arm, I haven't felt that for a quite a few years, only when I fight, now it's there constantly. I can feel the burning in my abdomen, from both of the scars in my stomach. I curl my right arm around my abdomen, looking down at Serana. She turns to look at me and I drop my arm away and straighten out before she can tell somethings wrong.

"Look at this place." She murmurs to me, I start to walk down the steps towards her. "The air, the ground everything feels wrong." I nod in agreement, finally reaching the bottom of the steps. I rest my left hand on my dagger, trying to take some of the ache away from it, my elbow locks up slightly. "You feeling fine?" She asks me.

I look up slightly, trying to get a better lay of the land. "Aye." I walk off to the side of the beaten path. "Where should we start looking?" I question her, grumbling to her. There's a large structure in the distance, a glowing blueish dome surrounding it. "There?" I grunt, raising my right hand to point out at it.

She hums her agreement and starts to lead the way over to the structure. Walking hurts with each step jolting my old wounds. Serana looks back at me, looking me up and down. "You look in pain." She mumbles to me.

I don't bother answering her, just keep walking. We need to get that scroll and we can't afford to waste time, especially not with something that happened years ago. I drop my arm from my belt and stretch it out as we carry on walking, pulling my gauntlet back on.

There's a scratching somewhere off to the right of us, the sound of dirt and rock crumbling. I stop dead in my tracks and draw my sword, Serana follows my lead and pulls her knife out, readying her other hand with a spell. There's more noises around us and then something climbs out of the ground. A skeleton, charred black bones, glowing blue eyes. It struggles out of the dirt, its movements jerky and slow. It pushes itself to its feet and pulls an axe up with it. I looks up at us and more rise from beneath the dirt.

I take a few steps back and look to Serana, she's staring off in the distance to where more are unearthing themselves. One of them rushes forward, running surprisingly quickly. It lashes out with an old rusted sword and I have to act fast, moving my own sword out to meet the iron blade I have to move my body to the side in order to parry the blade at the angle it's at. I hear the frost coated crackle of Serana's spells as she meets her own opponents in battle.

Another runs at me, I struggle to block another attack from the first. When the second gets too close I'm forced to retreat back away from them a third forcing me to move even further away from Serana. One of them jumps at me, getting as much weight behind its axe as it possibly can. It lands on its feet just in front of me and the weight from the strike makes me fall onto my back. I roll out of the way as it quickly follows up the attack with another one the blade of the axe sinking deep into the dirt.

I rush to get to my feet, doubling over as there's a sharp pain in my stomach. It only lasts a second or two but I know that feeling. It feels like the day it happened. I cry out slightly and fall to my knee, my left arm curled around my stomach, clutching at a ghostly pain that shouldn't be there. I can feel the sweat drip off my face as I look up at the burned skeletons. The one with the axe walks towards me.

One of the others rushes forward to end me, I don't think I'd be able to block the attack. The skeleton gets within arm's reach before a spear made of ice cuts through its rib cage, smashing the bone to pieces as it flies straight through, the skeleton collapses to the ground the momentum of its running carrying it still for a few feet. The third attacks Serana making her use her knife and the skeleton with the axe turns to face her. I stand up and wrap my arm around its neck, slamming the pommel of my sword into its arm, making it drop the axe. I throw it to the side, it lands on its stomach. I stumble back as it leaves my arms, quickly correcting myself I look down at the creature and it goes to push itself up. I quickly slam my boot onto its spine, making it hit the ground hard, snapping a few of the ribs. I fall to my knee and stab my sword into its skull. Killing it.

I let myself fall onto my back, lying in the dirt I close my eyes pull my glove off, feeling my abdomen, checking for blood. "We need to move." Serana says to me, I open my eyes and she's stood over me, concern clear on her face. "Come on. We need to move."

"I know." I pant out, I push myself up lifting my sword up as I do, it feels heavier then I remember. She grabs my shoulder and I realise I was stumbling back. I put my hand on her shoulder for support. "Lead the way." I groan to her. There's more of the scratching sound behind us. We stop moving and Serana readies herself. "Oi." I grunt. She turns to me and I draw my sword, flipping it around so I'm holding the blade, I throw it to her and she catches it by the hilt. I pull my bow around and ready an arrow. I nock the arrow and wait for one of the skeletons to climb out of the dirt.

One of them charges straight for us, Serana quickly attacks it, swinging the sword in broad arches, hacking at the creature's knee in order to down it as quickly as possible. Another comes up to attack her and I release the arrow, letting it sail through the air and strike the skeleton's rib cage, smashing the bones and making it collapse to the ground. "Back up!" I shout to her, nocking another arrow. She spins around to block the attack of another skeleton and starts to run towards me, I release the second arrow, killing the closest one to me. Serana runs passed me and I turn around following after her. "Too many!" I shout to her back. Another comes out of the dirt and swings a mace down over head at Serana, she raises the sword holding the blade sideways to block, leaving her defenceless, I run towards her and kick the skeleton hard where its stomach should be.

"We might find shelter there!" She tells me, pointing off to the structure we'd been heading to. She starts to run, leading the way with me following close behind. I look over my shoulder, still running. We're being followed by a group of around ten of those skeletons, too many for us to handle especially when I'm in this condition. We finally reach the structure, looks to be a colosseum of some kind, like the one in Cyrodiil. Serana runs up the steps, and turns around. I quickly pull and arrow out of my quiver. I turn to face the group of skeletons but they've stopped running. They back away a few steps before sinking into the ground again.

I swing the bow around and put the arrow back. "Let's get inside." I grumble to her, not looking at her. I rest my hand on my belt and I hear her footsteps behind me, then the weight of my sword being put back into its scabbard. "Quickly." I grumble, I turn around slowly.

Serana walks up to the arching doorway, stopping abruptly. I follow her closely, stop a few feet away from her. "There's a barrier." She mumbles, placing her hand palm down on the barrier. "What's in there?" She asks quietly, mostly to herself.

I take a few steps away from her and sit down on a stone ledge at the top of the steps. I look down at my boots and pull my gauntlet out from under my belt, looking at the wound on the palm of my hand. "Serana." I look up, there's an older woman stood behind the barrier, Serana looks frozen in place. "It can't be." The woman mumbles. "Is it really you?"

Serana looks back at me and then back to the woman, her mother. "How do we…?" She mumbles, trailing off. "We need to talk." She looks off to the side.

"What are you doing here?" Her mother asks. "Where's your father?" I pull my gauntlet back on and get up to walk over to her. "I must have failed. Harkon's found a way to decipher the prophecy, hasn't he?"

Serana holds her hands up. "No, you've got it all wrong, we're here to stop him… make everything right again." She tells her mother. "We can stop him." She adds, the conviction heavy in her voice, her mother looks sceptical.

"You've brought a stranger here." She says. "Have you lost your mind?" She demands, Serana tries to argue with her. "You." She says, looking straight at me. "Come forward, I would speak with you." I take a few steps towards the barrier. "Who sent you? How did you come to meet my daughter?"

I stand in front of her for a few seconds in complete silence. "The Dawnguard hired me to search a cavern." I grumble. The older vampire looks panicked at the mention of the Dawnguard. "Found her in a coffin."

"How has it come to pass that a vampire hunter is in the company of my daughter?" She mumbles, looking between Serana and myself. "It pains me to think you'd travel with Serana under the guise of her protector in an effort to hunt me down."

"Not her protector." I grunt. "Not hunting you." I lift my hand up and point at her. "Hunting what you have. The Elder Scroll." I tell her, she looks at me, squinting slightly. "It's not a ruse, I want to… keep her…" I trail off slightly, looking off to the side. "I want to help." I tell her.

She stands there, deep in thought for a few seconds. "Coming from one who murders vampires as a trade I find it difficult to believe your intentions are noble." She gestures to Serana. "My daughter has sacrificed everything to prevent Harkon from completing the prophecy. I would have expected her to explain that to you."

I take a step forward. "That's why I'm here, for the scroll."

"You truly believe that I would have the audacity to place my own daughter in that tomb for the protection of the Elder Scroll alone?" She pauses and stares at me. "The scrolls are merely a means to an end. The key to the Tyranny of the Sun is Serana herself."

We've been chasing ghosts, searching for answers when we didn't even have the right questions. Finding Serana's mother wasn't the right move, coming here to this place wasn't the right move. This has just been one long string of making the wrong moves at the wrong time. "Tell me everything." I demand her. I look back at Serana, she's leaning against one of the walls, staring down at her feet. "Tell us everything." I amend.

"When I fled Castle Volkihar, my home. I fled with two Elder Scrolls, the scroll I presume you found with Serana speaks of Auriel and his arcane weapon. The second scroll declares that "the Blood of Coldharbour's Daughter will blind the eye of the Dragon." She tells me, not stopping for me to ask questions, not leaving time for me to get my bearings with what she's telling me. "Like myself Serana was human once. We were devout followers of Lord Molag Bal, tradition dictates the females be offered to Molag Bal on his summoning day." Her fist clenches slightly. "Few are offered, even fewer survive." She pauses. "Those that do emerge as pure blooded vampires." She pauses again and stares at her daughter. "Daughters of Coldharbour."

"Harkon needs Serana's blood." I grumble, I look to Serana, she's still staring at her boots.

"Now you're beginning to see why I needed to protect my daughter, why I kept the other Elder Scroll as far from her as possible." She tells me. "Harkon will go to any length, Serana and I would be his means to that end."

"Harkon means to kill her." Serana looks up at her mother.

"If Harkon obtained Auriel's bow and Serana's blood was used to taint the weapon, the Tyranny of the the Sun would come to pass." I turn back to face her, she leans forward. "In his eyes, she'd be dying for the good of all vampires."

"I won't allow that to happen." I tell her. "I'll kill Harkon."

She looks off to the side, opening her mouth and then turns back to me. "I don't doubt your abilities, but Harkon will kill you." She tells me, the gravity of the situation easily carried in her voice. "Make no mistake, Harkon is a very skilled killer. I'm afraid a lot more skilled then any of us, especially the two of you." She sulks back slightly. "Don't you think I weighed that option before I enacted my plans?"

I put my arm out, gesturing to Serana. "And what about her opinion in all of this?" I ask. I've seen first-hand what her planning has done to Serana, no explanation on what was happening but she's suffered for it. Suffered enough.

"You care nothing for Serana or our plight!" She snaps at me, obviously angry with my question, although I'm not sure if it's because I'm questioning her planning or her position as a mother. "It doesn't matter if you've become one of us in order to survive the Soul Cairn, you're still a vampire hunter at heart." She snarls, mocking me with her words that don't apply to me. I'm neither a vampire nor a vampire hunter. "You're here because we're abominations in your mind." She leaves a long pause, letting me and Serana think about her words. "Evil creatures that need to be destroyed."

"I believe in him." Serana says. Her voice sounding quiet in contrast to mine and her mother. "Why won't you?" She asks, louder now than before.

Her mother turns her full attention to Serana. "This stranger aligns himself with those that would hunt you down and slay you like an animal." She says it a lot quieter then when she was talking to me. "Yet I should entrust your safety to him?"

Serana walks over to the barrier, her fists and jaw clenched. "This "stranger" has done more for me in the brief time I've known him than you've done in centuries!" She snarls at the other woman, leaving her briefly speechless.

Her mother crosses her arms, squares her stance. "How dare you!" She snaps at her, a slight humourless laugh polluting the words. "I gave up everything I cared about to protect you from that fanatic you call a father!" She shouts back.

"Yes, he's a fanatic… he's changed. But he's still my father." She answers, her voice is thick, maybe it's despair that's layered so heavily on it. Maybe it's more of a tired anger. "Why can't you understand how that makes me feel?"

"Oh, Serana. If you'd only open your eyes. The moment your father discovers your role in the prophecy, that he needs your blood, you'll be in terrible danger." She gestures to me. "This man can't protect you anymore then I could."

"So to protect me you decided to shut me away from everything I cared about?" She asks. "You never asked me if hiding me in that tomb was the best course of action, you just expected me to follow you blindly." She takes a step back. "Both of you were obsessed with your own paths. Your motivations might have been different, but in the end, I'm still just a pawn to you, too." She takes a pause. "I want us to be a family again. But I don't know if we can ever have that… Maybe we don't deserve that kind of happiness. Maybe it isn't for us." She takes a step back this time, resolve heavy in her voice. "But we have to stop him. Before he goes too far. And to do that, we need the Elder scroll." She leaves another long pause. "I'm done following you blindly."

Her mother hangs her head. "I'm sorry, Serana. I didn't know… I didn't see." She looks back up. "I've allowed my hatred of your father to estrange us for too long. Forgive me. If you want the Elder scroll, it's yours." She turns back to me. "You're intentions are still somewhat unclear to me. But for Serana's sake, I'll assist you in any way I can."

"You have the scroll with you?" Serana asks, sparing me having to answer.

"Yes." She turns to her daughter, sorrow clearly written in her eyes. "I've kept it safely secured here ever since I was imprisoned. You'll need to breach the barrier that surrounds these ruins."

I rest my hand on my belt. "What do we need to do?" I speak first this time, Serana's obviously struggling with this meeting, meeting her mother after all this time. I know what that's like.

"Locate the tallest of the rocky spires that surround these ruins. Destroy the Keepers that are tending them, and it should bring the barrier down. There are three in total." She informs me, nodding her head towards one of the spires visible from our position.

"We'll return soon." I turn to walk away, Serana already halfway down the steps.

"One more word of warning." I stop walking, turning to look back to her. "There's a dragon that calls itself Durnehviir roaming the Cairn. Be wary of him. If you're perceived as a threat, he will kill you." I nod to her turning to walk down the steps, Serana's already at the bottom. "Be careful, and keep my daughter safe."

Be careful and keep my daughter safe, those two don't go hand in hand, I'm always forced between a rock and a hard place. Maybe this time I won't be forced to choose.


	13. No Sympathy

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**Word count.**

**Original: 1,473**

**Re-write: 3,380**

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><p>Chapter XIII<p>

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><p>No Sympathy<p>

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><p>Mortis<p>

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><p>We head to the first of the spires, we've been walking in almost silence only really broken up by Serana asking if I'm alright every time I slow down or rub my arm. Her mother's words just keep playing on my mind. Keep my daughter safe. How am I meant to keep her safe when I can barely keep myself safe, that's been proven to me time and time again. I glace over towards Serana, she keeps looking back at the colosseum over her shoulder.<p>

"Do you umm…" I pause, looking at her as we walk, clearing my throat. "Do you want to talk about it?" I ask her.

"I just thought it would go…" She answers quickly, trailing off and thinking about her next words carefully, I look back towards the spire maybe it'll be easier for her if I'm not watching her. "Better." She finally finishes. "At least I got that off my chest." She mumbles so lowly I almost don't catch it.

I hum in response and glace back at her. "Seems like it needed to be said." I step over a small pile of charred bones, stopping and looking down at them. Maybe that dragon, I shake my head, best not to think about it.

Serana walks over to me and looks down at the pile of bones. "What do you think?" She asks, I turn my attention to her. "Do you think that we… that you deserve happiness?" She just stares down at the bones, then looks up at me.

I mull over the question, glancing back at the colosseum. "When the uh… when the war started I was sent to Hammerfell to kill a Thalmor officer." I pause and look back at her, she's watching me I've got her full undivided attention. "She used to be a member of the family, had to kill her."

"When was this?" She asks, interrupting my story.

I look off to the side, glancing at the floor. "Fifteen years ago. I'd been in Hammerfell for eight months, was anxious to get home." I gesture for her to start walking again, heading straight for the spire. "They were marching Dominion forces east, into Cyrodiil. About five hundred strong."

"How'd you kill her?" She asks me.

That was the question I was worried she'd ask, I knew she would though, of course she would. "Lead a group of soldiers straight into the middle of the battalion." I grumble, she looks at me sharply. "About eighty men, none survived." We carry on walking in a deep uncomfortable silence, the only sounds being the soft crunch of the ash and dirt under our boots. "I don't deserve happiness." I mumble, Serana glances at me. "I believe you do."

We carry on in silence again. I'm certain Serana doesn't know how to respond to that. I don't think I would, I do know I don't deserve any sympathy for the weight I carry.

* * *

><p>We finally reach the spire, the towering column of stone and metal reaching high into the eternally dark sky, I move ahead of Serana, pulling my dagger up so its half way out of its sheath. "Keep low." I whisper to her, sneaking around the wall towards an opening in the bottom of the column. I push my back against the stone wall and glance around the corner. "Five skeletons." I whisper to her. "One Keeper." I add in a grumble. "You take the Keeper, I'll hold the skeletons back as best I can." I look at her and she gives a sharp nod.<p>

We sneak around, keeping close to the ground. I pull my dagger out fully, holding it with the blade pointed down. Serana breaks off to my left, heading for higher ground and a better tactical advantage over the Keeper. The keeper itself is massive, a towering behemoth of bone and steel armour sat on a roughly cobbled stone wall. There's a large mace at its feet that too is made of bone and steel, obviously put down when the creature sat on the wall. There's three of the charred skeletons flanking it, rusted weapons held in their hands.

Serana stops moving, keeping low against a wall. I creep up behind the closest of the skeletons, dagger at the ready. I move forward, throwing my weight into its back and forcing us both onto the ground as I drive the dagger up into the back of its skull. There's a loud crackle as Serana casts her spells at the Keeper, I glance at it as it climbs to its feet and lifts its mace.

I turn away and draw my sword in time to stop an attack from one of the skeletons. Keeping down on one knee as I raise the blade to cut the strike short. I grunt with the effort of pushing against the force and try to climb to my feet. I push against the blade and make the skeleton stumble back I look for the third and manage to slash my sword at its back as it goes for Serana, cutting its interception short.

The second comes at me again, I'm ready this time though and I block it with relative ease, stepping back to give myself some thinking space. I risk a glance at Serana, she's managing to stay out of the Keeper's reach but only just, if she can keep that up we should be able to kill it. The skeleton slashes at me and I jump back to avoid the blade that only just skims my armour, tearing a thin line in the leather, it buckles against the chainmail and I use my gauntlet to throw it off course, making the strike a lot broader then the skeleton was anticipating. It's only a small window of opportunity but I've done more with less, the skeleton loses its balance for a second and drop down and swing my sword up severing its skull.

The Keeper falls to the ground with a thundering crash, the bone armour sounding like its cracking under the weight. The last skeleton turns to Serana and I take advantage of the distraction and drive my sword through its ribs. The bones smash as the steel blade cuts through and comes out the other side. Its arm flails up, the bone fingers scratching at me, I use my left hand to stop it. The skeleton falls to the ground and I step back, it's a man on the floor, a hatchet buried in his back his head caved in and a puddle of blood under my boot. I blink and shake my head and stare back down at the skeleton. Just a skeleton.

I look away and Serana's staring at me. "You alright to keep going?" She asks from next to me but sounding like she's a thousand yards away. She looks fine not like me, I probably look worse for wear but not her. I nod my head in answer to her question. "You sure?" She asks, looking at me worried, sympathetic.

I grunt an answer, sounds like it might mean yes. "Let's go." I tell her, looking off to the next of the spires. "Still go two to hit." Then maybe a dragon, I don't say that out loud though, the less we think of that the better.

* * *

><p>When we reach the next spire the Keeper is already waiting for us. I send Serana in first she heads up to high ground again and I try and stick low, according to Serana the first was strong but slow. I don't have to be better or stronger just quicker. I turn the corner and walk into a wide open space, crumbling cobbled walls line it and some sit in the middle. As long as I watch my footing I should be able to move around a lot quicker than the Keeper. The creature itself stands proud with a massive two handed claymore, the blade made of sharpened bone.<p>

The sheer size and weight of the weapon should slow it down, although with that much length staying out of its reach is going to be difficult. There's none of the skeletons around this time, maybe the Keeper's prefer a fair fight, maybe it just doesn't need them. The creature moves forward, not overly slowly but not too fast. It hefts the claymore and swings it down, hard and fast I only just have time to dive out of the way, landing hard on my right arm. The Keeper's sword buried in the ground.

Serana sends some of her ice spears at the beast, it raises its arm to block what must be its face. Its other hand curls around the hilt of its claymore, I get back to my feet, holding my sword ready. It pulls and shakes the sword trying to pull it free. I take a few steps back, its armour must have some weak points. The knees and the armpits, around the neck, the usual points. Maybe I can hack at a shoulder plate. I try my luck and stab my sword into the back of its knee, it roars out in what I hope is more pain then anger. I swings its arm back and I duck out of the way, pulling my sword free as I fall to the floor the Keeper dropping to the ground as I pull it out.

I scramble away as the Keeper now down on one knee swings its sword at me, the blade so close to the back of my head that I can feel it cut through the air and a few stray hairs on my head. Another spike of ice and lightening slam into its back, forcing it to lurch forward. I get to my feet crawling the last few steps and then turning to face it, I let my head drop back and quickly let out a breath, the smart move probably would have been to become a vampire, this has just put me at a disadvantage.

Serana casts her spells again and the Keeper falls onto its hands, holding itself up as the ice drives through the bone armour and splits the plates. It raises what must be a head, a deep shadow with nothing to cast it. I stare at it, looking into the shadows and something catches my gaze. A joint in the armour, an obvious weak point. I slam my sword into the Keeper's shoulder and its arm goes limp under the impact, and then finally it goes down, spears of ice puncturing the creature's back. I take a few steps back, the Keeper doesn't stir or move, its leg twitches but it stops soon after starting.

Serana walks down from the wall she was on, she looks at the body as she gets closer. "Went down easy enough." I mumble as she comes a stop near me. The Keeper starts to move, getting up onto its hands and knees. "Get back." I grumble as it moves its hand. Serana readies herself, holding her hand out at the ready, I see frost forming in the palm of her hand. I lashes out with its arm and I'm not quick enough this time, I think I hit a wall and everything goes dark.

* * *

><p>"Get up." She shouts, I blink my eyes as Serana shakes me, gripping my shoulder tightly. "Get up." She shakes me harder, I open my eyes properly and shift them over to look at her. It doesn't look like Serana though. It's a woman, dark red hair and blue eyes, a slight tan to her skin. "Vannius, we need to move." She touches my face and her hand is cold, ice cold.<p>

I shut my eyes, as the hand comes away from my cheek, slapping me lightly. "How do you…?" I open them and she's gone. A pale woman with black hair and glowing reddish, orange eyes is in her place. She stares at me, looking confused as I stare at her. "What… what did you… call me?" I ask her, I tilt my head to the side and hold my gaze on her eyes.

She looks more confused than before, she opens her mouth slightly as she stares at me. "Mortis." She tells me. "Now get up. We need to move." She stands up, holding her hand out for me to take. I grab it and she helps me to my feet, and then looks off to the distance. "The last spire." She mumbles to me, pointing to it. "Then we get the scroll and leave." I nod to her, glancing at the spire. "We're almost done." Almost but not close enough.

She starts to walk off, towards the towering column of rock, the top breaks off and floats up towards the sky, a swirling mass of cloud turning around the peak. I follow her a few steps behind. "I… err." I trail off not knowing what I was going to say, I blink and shake my head. I want to tell her what's happening, that I keep seeing things, people I killed, people I murdered. I've never struggled before.

_You've never had to look them in the eye afterwards. _

No, no, no, no not her, not now. I feel a shiver up my spine, cold fingers brushing the bone. "There's…" Serana turns to look at me, looking at me questioningly. _You'll join them if you stay here._ "I wanted to…" _Nothing will change it, you're a murderer and you'll always be a murderer. _I stop walking and look down at the ground, I hear Serana come to a stop and I glance at her, she's stood directly in front of me. "Let's move." I grumble, gesturing to the spire.

* * *

><p>The final spire has steps wrapping around it. The Keeper isn't at the bottom, must be at the top. Serana goes first, her knife ready in one hand and a spell ready in the other, I follow her closely my sword held up and ready.<p>

She stops once we near the top, peaking around a corner and quickly ducking back as an arrow cracks off the stone wall. I lean back to avoid the broken shaft as it flies off and grazes my face, the splinted wooden shaft scratching my cheek. Another arrow follows the first, Serana pulls her foot back quickly, the arrow striking where it sat a moment before.

I take a few steps back, there's a small partially collapsed pillar opposite us. "See that." I mumble to her, she nods staring at the pillar. "Distract the Keeper." I grumble, she gives a sharp nod and turns the corner, casting her spells as quickly as she can. I break away and run across, getting behind the pillar and pressing my back against it.

I look back at Serana and she ducks back behind the corner. I swing my bow from off my back and pull an arrow from my quiver. I nock it and pull back, turning around the side of the pillar I aim the bow as quickly as I can. The Keeper gets one off quicker then I manage to and its arrow cuts into my left gauntlet, as I pull back into the cover of the pillar and release the arrow, it hits the Keeper in the chest and although it doesn't break the armour the impact makes it stumble back a couple of steps.

Serana runs at the Keeper, casting her spells as it retreats up a set of stairs. I drop my bow and pull the arrow free from my gauntlet, it didn't break the skin. I stand up and run after her, drawing my sword as I do. The Keeper swings its bow at her and she ducks under it, I stop the swing with my sword, the bone bow arm slamming into my steel sword with a heavy clunk. I step back as the Keeper pulls the bow back, Serana casts her lightening at it, forcing it closer to the edge of the towering spire we're on.

The Keeper tries to swing the bow at her again but she cuts it short, sending a spear of ice into the arm and smashing the bone into two. I move in quickly as Serana ducks back, kicking it in the thigh as hard as I can, I stumble forward as the Keeper goes over the edge, plummeting to the ground below. Serana grabs my arm and pulls me back.

"That's the last one." She mumbles, I look at her she's got cuts next to her right eye, small chips of ice embedded in her skin. I reach out and pull the biggest one of them out she flinches slightly as I do, I stop and hold it between my fingers before letting it drop to the floor. "Come on." She says, looking back to the colosseum. "Quicker we get the scroll, the quicker we go home."

There's a roar. It sounds far away but it echoes around us, its ear splitting and almost seems to shake the tower to its foundations. I walk over to the edge of the spire and stare off in the direction it came from. There's another roar and a plume of flames in the distance, rising into the sky and lighting it up in a magnificent orange and blue.

"Maker… Durnehviir." Serana mutters from behind me. The fire stops with the roar, the flames pulled back to their source. I look back at her. "We need to move." She mumbles stepping back slightly.

I rush to grab my bow, Serana following close behind. "Go and get the scroll." I tell her. "It'll head this way, no sense us both dying." I lift up the discarded bow and walk back up the steps, she stops half way on them and looks at me. "Get the scroll and head back to the Dawnguard."

"What?" She asks hurriedly, demanding my attention and answer. I walk back up the steps. "Mortis." She says to my back, she grabs my arm to stop me. "I'm not leaving you to face a dragon by yourself!" She shouts at me. "If we leave now we'll have a chance." I pull my arm away from her and carry on up the steps.

"Your mother asked me to keep you safe!" I shout back at her, standing at the edge of the tower, with my bow held low. "I told her I would and I will." I grumble more to myself then to her.

She grabs my shoulder and turns me around. "I don't need protecting!" She shouts back at me, getting in my face. I glance back towards where the roars and flames came from, there's more fire, less this time.

"I know you don't." I mumble staring at the flames in the distance. "But I'm doing it." I turn back to face her. "Now leave." She doesn't make a move, just stares at me, deep into my eyes. She looks like she's going to plead with me. "Are you stubborn or just thick?" I snarl at her, getting closer. "That dragon will kill us both and then we would've died for nowt." I look back to the flames, the dragon, Durnehviir is rising into the sky. "Go get the scroll and get back to Nirn." I look back at her. "Stop Harkon or die here and now." She looks back and forth between me and the colosseum, I grab her upper arm. "Go! Now!" I shout at her, she nods and breaks off into a sprint, heading down the spire.

There's another roar, a deep rumbling roar that shakes me to the bone. Durnehviir is heading towards me, his massive wings carrying his body through the sky. I stand on the very edge and look down, taking a few deep breaths to try and calm myself. I look back up at the terrifying creature in the not too far distance. Most people might pray to the divines or whatever they might believe in, I just hope Serana makes it and maybe I'll have a quick, painless death. I nock an arrow and raise the bow, close my eyes and exhale.


	14. Durnehviir

**Follows, favourites and reviews are appreciated, so if you want to then go ahead. Thanks to everyone who has done any of that and thanks to everyone who's read the story.**

**Word count.**

**Original: 1,394**

**Re-write: 2,077**

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><p>Chapter XIV<p>

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><p>Durnehviir<p>

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><p>Mortis<p>

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><p>I nock an arrow and raise the bow, close my eyes and exhale. Opening my eyes again I adjust the bow, try and get the angle right. The dragons too far away but it's getting a lot bigger very quickly. Hopefully Serana can make it back to the colosseum and then to the portal before Durnehviir kills me.<p>

It flies straight for the spire, its size making it difficult to tell how far from me it actually is. I raise the bow a bit more, pulling back on the arrow until it's as far back as I can get it. Exhale and concentrate. I let go of the arrow and watch as it flies towards the dragon. It hits its wing and stabs through what look to be scales, there's no sign whether or not it hurt. I quickly pull another arrow from my quiver and line up the next shot, it's a lot closer now; gaining speed as it flies towards the spire. I let go of the arrow and the dragon flies higher into the purple sky, the arrow sailing uselessly to the ground below.

I look up as it flies straight up into the sky, disappearing into the black and grey clouds. I nock another arrow and aim up towards the sky. Its deathly silent. I take a couple of steps back, my boots scraping against the stone. The dragon appears again, dropping straight down towards the tower, it spirals as it falls through the air; its wings wrapped around its body. I dive to the side, completely forgetting about my bow as I land hard on my shoulder. Durnehviir crashes into the spire, smashing the rock to pieces as the dragon crashes all the way through.

There's a roar and then the spire starts to tilt dangerously to the side, I scramble to get back on my feet, moving towards the other, more stable side of the tower. The dragon flies back out of the massive hole it made, smashing through the other side as it reaches into the air again. The spire tips to the side, falling from its base, I jump to grab onto the edge of the hole, pulling my legs up to stop myself from plummeting to the ground below. There's another roar and a plume of fire follows the sound, enveloping the spire in flames. There's an ear-splitting crack as the chunk of rock that I'm on falls down a few feet, I close my eyes and grip the stone tighter.

Durnehviir lands on the other part of the spire as I climb up to the top of the chunk, getting on my knees and grip the cracked and smashed rock. I turn my head to look at the monster, it seems to have a dull purple glow to its body, grey or green scales covering its flesh, it leans its head forward; yellowish drool dripping from its pulled back lips. The arrow still sits, dug into its wing. It spreads its wings and puts its head into the sky, roaring louder now than before if that is even possible. Fire erupts from its mouth, reaching so high into the clouds that I can't see the end of the plume, I can feel the intense heat as it surrounds the spire. It looks back down at me, staring straight at me as I sit on my hands and knees. I look away, glance down towards the ground.

It pounces forward, diving straight into what remains of the spire. The chunk I'm on finally falls, crushing its way down through the rock, I feel it completely crack in the middle as I fall away from it, hitting the collapsed ruins as I try and scramble for a foot hold or anything to grab onto. My right leg falls further into a crack and the spire is pushed further down towards the ground. I scream as the rock grinds against my leg, tearing through the thick leather and cutting through my skin. I hit the ground, managing to pull my leg out of the crack as the remains slam into the ground. I lay on my back and let my head fall back onto the floor hard, a couple of my ribs crack on impact. My leg burns where the rock cut through my skin and pushed against my shin and knee. The ground shakes as Durnehviir hits the floor, its wings slam into the ground as it lowers its head. I crawl behind part of the collapsed tower, dragging my injured leg as I do.

"Ahh." Durnehviir grumbles, its voice rumbling and deep. Dragons can speak? "Mortal, you try and hide?" I can feel it moving around, a loud inhale and then that intense heat again. "I can smell your fear." It rumbles, the large clawed fingers on the end of its wing curl around the top of the spire. "Taste your blood." Its tail slinks round the side, near my foot. "I smelt the other, running from here." I start to move away from the tail as the dragon moves along the other side, its claws dragging along as it moves. "Her fear for you reeks. Cutting into my nostrils as she got further and further away from you." I get up to my feet, limping as quickly as I can, trying to get to the other end of the tower. Durnehviir rounds the corner, his head right in front of me, I fall back onto the ground as his lips pull back, exposing his teeth. "Not as much as you. I could smell you anywhere." I crawl back as he moves forward. "Scared of me! Scared of this place! Scared of failure!"

I stop crawling back as he moves his face down towards me. I lean back as he gets even closer, his hot breath hitting my face as I turn away slightly. "Dragons are extinct!" I shout at him, turning my head back to face him fully. "There's a reason while you're the only one left!" I add, looking into his eyes.

He opens his mouth wider, showing the rows of teeth as his tongue moves forward, licking the back of the teeth. He turns his head to the side, inhaling deeply. He growls deep in his throat. "The barrier is down." He grumbles, turning to look at me. "The scroll will not leave the cairn." He growls at me, before moving back. "The other will burn!" He roars. "Her bones will crack and her skin will boil and split!" He roars, firing burning out of his mouth. "I am Durnehviir! Remember my name mortal, fear follows with it!" He rises into the sky. "A more fitting death awaits you mortal. The Dovah will return when the sons of Skyrim spill their own blood." He rises up further, soaring back the way he came.

I roll onto my side, struggling to get to my feet as I start limping towards the portal and where Serana must be heading. I look down at my leg, blood runs down into my boot. It hurts to put any weight as I drag my leg along, going as quickly as I can. I drop my quiver to the floor, no point dragging the arrows around if I don't have a bow anymore. Hopefully Serana can get back to Nirn and get the scroll as far from Harkon as possible.

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><p>Reaching the portal was uneventful, Durnehviir wasn't bothered in me at all, he must've realised I was never any threat what so ever. Getting out of Volkihar was much more difficult, working my way through the ruins without Serana to lead the way. Even more difficult with my injured leg and cracked ribs.<p>

The walk to Solitude's bordering villages is slow and painful, my ribs jerking with every step and my leg burning every time I put even the smallest amount of weight on it. I pay for two nights rest in the inn, getting some needed sleep and bandaging my wounds. I manage to scrape together enough money to get my ribs treated by a healer, making do with the leg injury.

Serana would've headed back to Fort Dawnguard on foot, probably scared to go near Solitude after she learned of the Legion and their careful and tight defence of the hold. I lean my back against the carriage my ribs, despite the treatment still ache, making it hard to move properly. I'll have to walk to the fort from Riften, no way will a carriage driver head up to the gates of anything other than a Legion stronghold.

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><p>A week after leaving the Soul Cairn I finally arrive back at Fort Dawnguard. I walk up to the gates, there looks to be more men with Dawnguard amour on now, standing by the gate with crossbows ready. I don't recognise any of them except for Durak, the orc waves down the others, silently ordering them to lower their crossbows.<p>

"You're alive." He calls to me, he moves his hand to the top of his axe. I understand the silent demand, I stop walking and look at him. "The vampire wasn't sure if you made it or not." He adds, so Serana made it back safely, well if it is actually safe for her to be here. "It said you had probably been killed."

"Nearly was." I call back to him. "Only just survived." I lean my weight onto my good leg. "Where is she now?" I ask, I have to make sure she's safe. I suppose I should check before I head out again. This is too much for me now, as soon as I know I can get paid and leave.

"In the fort, resting probably." He tells me. "It was wounded when it arrived." He adds, turning to one of the men. "Open the gate." He orders, looking back to me. "Isran will want to speak with you." He grumbles as I walk through the open gate and towards the fort. Of course he will.

I step into the fort after getting one of the hunters to open the heavy door for me. I limp into the main hall, Isran is stood there as usual. "It said you were dead." He mutters. "Dexion went blind, blames it on the rush to read the scroll." He tells me, getting straight to business; I didn't really expect anything else from Isran. Dexion went blind, he said something about side effects must've been what he meant.

"I want my money." I tell him, I can get straight to business as well and this payment is long overdue. I rest my hand on my belt and point to the bunks at the back of the fort. "She in there?" I ask him, I turn my attention to him as he walks off to get my money.

"It is." He mutters, putting emphasis on the word "it".

I walk into the back. She's in the furthest corner, curled up on one of the cots. There's a bandage pulled roughly around her right arm, looks like she did it herself, probably would've have gotten any help for anyone here. She's asleep, looks tired. I crouch down, getting onto one knee as I look at her face. She looks distressed, pained I'm not sure if it's the wound on her arm or some emotional pain.

"Five thousand septims." Isran grumbles walking into the room, I stand up and walk over to him, pulling my pack round as I do. He passes me a large bag and then a smaller one, I raise my eyebrow and look at him. "For the extra work you did." He says, answering my unasked question.

"How long she been here?" I ask him, shoving the bags in my pack and turning back to the cot. It took me a week, three days really but I was on a carriage and could travel in the sun light.

"Arrived in the early hours." He answers. "Luckily for it I was on the front gate; and it had something I wanted." I turn back to face him. "You leaving?"

I start to walk away. "Aye, I've got places to be, things to do." Five thousand septims and a brothel, some much needed time to "rest". I walk away from Isran and Serana, who hasn't stirred the entire time, must have not really rested making her way here. I walk out of the fort and carry on through the gate and out of its grounds, start heading towards Riften.

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><p><strong>There's another chapter. Not many people read this story so really there isn't much point in continuing with it, but I've started so I might as well finish. This chapter is shit, they probably all are. <strong>

**I'm trying to decide whether or not to carry on the prequel or not but at the minute I don't think I will, no one at all has really read it and I don't think it would be missed or anything. I probably will finish it though. **


	15. Blood Money

**If I start putting these at the top then the chapter number won't be off centre from now on. Every follow, favourite and review is very much appreciated, so if you like the story then tell me and if you think it could be better then tell me.**

**Word count.**

**Original: 1,944.**

**Re-write: 3,130.**

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><p>Chapter XV<p>

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><p>Blood Money<p>

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><p>Mortis<p>

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><p>14 years before the reformation of the Dawnguard<p>

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><p>The rain beats down hard, I wait by the road, crouching in the thick and heavily water logged mud. The carriage I've been waiting for slowly comes down the dirt road, a couple of guards flanking it on either side and in front on a horse. His gleaming golden armour shining brightly even in the dull and dim night. I rest my hand on the sword at my hip, there's two of them on the carriage, one driver and one passenger. The driver looks to only have a dagger but the passenger has a crossbow.<p>

The other two have swords and the third and final one has a spear. If I can move quickly I'll need to kill the archer and then my next target should be the driver. I flex my fingers, if I can summon up a big enough blast then I might be able to scare the horse, hopefully it'll throw the rider. The two with swords should be easy enough, just have to make sure I don't get in the middle of them. I concentrate on the spell, the only one I know. I manage to throw a modest blast of fire at the horse, landing in front of it, a few stray flames licking at its hoofs. I rears up and throws the rider off and I move out of the tree line quickly, going straight for the carriage. I unhook my hatchet and jump onto the carriage, grabbing onto the side with my right hand. I swing the hatchet into the archer's neck, the thick blade cutting deeply into the flesh.

I manage to climb into the back and draw my sword. The driver turns to face me, pulling out his dagger, he lunges and I step back to avoid him. One of the Thalmor guards rushes round the back sword ready. I should've planned this better. I improvise and throw myself forward into the driver, forcing us both off the carriage. We land hard in the mud and roll off him as he stabs at me with the dagger. The one with the spear rushes at me, stabbing forward with enough force to break my bones, I duck back to avoid the attack and slip back in the mud. I recover quickly, getting back to my feet to block an overhead strike from one of the other guards, he jumps as he does it, putting his entire weight and the weight of his armour into the swing. I stumble back and he tries to take advantage by going for a low strike I block it with much more ease then the previous one and push my shoulder into him as I do. He falls back and his back hits the carriage.

The driver gets comes at me, along with the spear guard. I move so the drivers in front of me, stopping the one with the spear from stabbing at me. I take a couple of steps back give myself to thinking room, his armours lighter than the other's especially around the abdomen. He stabs at me and I grab his forearm and run my sword through his stomach. He screams as the blade goes through and comes out his back. The other guard with the sword drops down to the floor with a squelch, Astrid follows the lifeless elf and the one with the spear turns to her. He goes in for a stab but she drops to one knee, grabs the spear shaft as she moves down next to it and slashes him across the knee, forcing him down he moves her blade of woe around and stabs him up through the chin. I throw the driver off my sword and quickly stab down into the other guard's stomach as he attempts to get up. He cries out as I keep the blade still, just the tip embedded in him.

"Where were you heading?!" I shout at him as he tries to pull away from my sword. He stops as I push down harder, sliding the metal in deeper. "Where?!" I shout at him.

His life is cut short as Astrid runs her blade across his throat. I pull my sword out and look at her as the Thalmor guard clutches his throat and bleeds to death. "There's no profit in this." She mumbles absently, looking away from me as she cleans the blood from her long knife. "We kill for money, not for whatever cause you've decided to take up." She spits, gesturing to the dead Thalmor. "Fighting a war that we have no part in?"

I slam my sword back into its scabbard and rub my hand over my face. "Fighting mine." I growl at her. "They killed the listener, they've brought us to our knees." I grumble, getting in her face, she takes a step back as I move forward. "I won't kneel to our enemies." I start to walk away from her, getting my hatchet from the passenger's throat. "I'll kill for more than profit." I grumble to her. "I won't die with the rest of you."

* * *

><p>Present<p>

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><p>The Ratway smells like piss, always has and it probably always will. There's a body leant up against one of the walls, fresh stab wounds in his stomach, about a dozen or so, a pool of blood underneath him. I crouch down in front of him and lift his head up slightly. Been awhile since I last came here but I don't recognise him. Hopefully that's good. I carry on through the piss stained damp tunnels, towards the Ragged Flagon.<p>

The Ragged Flagon, a shit hole that reeks of piss and vomit but sells ale, and it has Riften's sewer system running through the majority of it. I walk towards the "bar" where all the tables and chairs are, lucky for me the man I want to see is sat at one of those tables, nursing a bottle of mead. He looks at me and freezes slightly probably wasn't expecting me to ever walk into here again.

I pull the chair opposite him out and sit down heavily. My ribs groaning at the action, they're getting better but they still ache, along with my leg. I slam some coins down on the table. "Bottle of ale!" I shout to the bloke whose name I can never remember. I turn back to Delvin. "Morning." I grumble in way of greeting.

"What does the Brotherhood want now?" He asks leaning back in his chair slightly, I see his hand stray down towards his dagger. I turn my head to him slightly and glance down at his dagger then back to his face and shake my head slightly. His hand does go any closer to the dagger but it does move away.

I lean on the table and tap my fingers against it slightly. "Need some stuff." I grumble, picking up one of the coins between two of my fingers, I start taping it on the table. "Might stay here a few days, Dawnstar's looking a bit grim as of late." The bloke comes over and puts a bottle of ale on the table, collecting the few coins. "Could do with a new sword." I grumble, pulling mine out and holding it out to him. I touch my thumb to the blade. "Getting a bit dull."

"Dirge can sharpen it for you." He says quickly, obviously trying to get rid of me. They've never liked dealing with the Brotherhood but they liked Astrid, I think they're scared of me. "Dirge!" He shouts. "Need this sharpening!" He adds taking the sword from me.

The man grabs the sword. "And this." I grumble, taking my dagger out. I pass it to him and he walks away, into the back of the Ragged Flagon, where the guild normally meet. I pick up the ale and pull the cork out of the top, quickly taking a gulp of it. Delvin sits opposite me, looking tense and ready to stab me at a moment's notice. "Saw the dead bloke out there." I mumble, pointing in the general direction of the Ratways. "What he do?"

Delvin grins slightly, first time I've seen him grin since I walked in. "He came down here." He starts, taking a sip of his mead. "Tried to… take advantage of our little Vex." He mumbles, looking down at the table for a minute, I can see the anger in his eyes. Still carrying a torch for the blonde then. "She don't like rapists too much." He grumbles, he starts smirking again. "She cut of his cock and balls." He says. "Tried to run away, straight into me."

I grin as I take another drink. "Finally put those daggers of yours to actual use then." I say to him. "No good cutting purses from belts." I tell him. "Meant to be buried up to the hilt in some poor cunts belly." I lean back in my chair. Delvin isn't grinning anymore, back to being tense. "I'm not here to kill anyone." I tell him, he looks up at me. "Only here to have a rest." I mumble. "Leg hurts." I grumble, leaning back further and letting my eyes close slightly.

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><p>14 years before the reformation of the Dawnguard<p>

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><p>I lean against the wall, flicking through what must be one of Cicero's journals. The others are all rushing around, trying to help their fallen brother. "Cicero believes he's the listener?" I ask them, not really directing the question to anyone in particular. I throw the journal onto the table near the others that they must have found in his quarters. I walk over to Veezara, who's sitting on the floor, gripping his wound tightly. Astrid is stood over him. "Where is he now?" I grumble.<p>

"Arnbjorn went after him." She says, sounding… anxious, not really a word I would ever use to describe Astrid but it's the only way I can describe the tone in her voice. She looks up at me. "I searched his quarters, he was interested in the old Sanctuary in Dawnstar."

I walk away slightly, pacing. Astrid orders everyone out of the main room, except me and Nazir, Gabriella helps Veezara leave and head into the back of the sanctuary. "Arnbjorn have a plan?" I grumble to them. "Or was he just going to chase him?"

She walks over to me resting her hand on her belt. "The plan is to kill him." She tells me, looking like she can't believe I'm even asking her a question like that. "Cicero is small and weak, he was only able to injure Veezara because we weren't expecting it."

I lean forward, getting closer to her. "And if he is the listener?" I ask her, she pauses, leans away from me slightly. "You've already abandoned all the tenets." I tell her, lean in closer to her. "Why not kill the listener as well I suppose." I take a few steps back, scratch absently at my beard. "You should keep your pet on a tighter rope."

Astrid looks about ready to gut me, she even puts her hand on her blade of woe, takes a few steps towards me. "We haven't got time for this." Nazir says, interrupting the fight that was probably just about to start. He turns mostly to me. "What should we do about Cicero?"

"It doesn't matter." Astrid says, waving us both off, stopping me from answering. "When Arnbjorn catches up to him, he'll tear him limb from limb." She mumbles, going to walk away. "That little weasel doesn't stand a chance against a real warrior."

"That little weasel is a lot smarter than that fucking mongrel." I grunt, she turns around sharply, reaching for the blade or woe. She takes a few steps towards me before Nazir stops her. "Arnbjorn might be a lot stronger but stronger doesn't mean owt when you've got a knife in your back."

"Will he even be able to catch up to Cicero?" Nazir says, sounds like he's talking more to himself then to me or Astrid.

I smirk slightly and lean back against one of the walls. "Dogs run fast." I grumble, I look up at Astrid and scratch at my beard again. "I'll go." I say pushing away from the wall. "Get the job done right, your dog will either come back skewered or not come back at all." I walk towards the door, grabbing one of Cicero's journals on the way.

* * *

><p>I walk into the Dawnstar sanctuary, it's bigger than the Falkreath one, more built up as well; not relying so much on the natural cavern as they did with our sanctuary. I walk down the stairs, left hand resting on the hilt of my sword. "Cicero!" I call out into the silence. "I know you're here!" I walk over to a table that has a very old skeleton on it.<p>

There's a sharp clang behind me, I turn around only to be met with a dark tunnel. I draw my sword, the sound of the razor sharp blade leaving the scabbard echoes around the stone room and down the tunnel. I head into it, seems to be a catacomb of some kind, it's littered with alcoves some have coffins and urns in, most are empty. There's another clatter somewhere off to my right, hard to pin down in the tunnels with all of the echoes.

I edge round one of the corners, looking both ways before I commit to going round. "You can hide in the shadows all you want." I mutter, gripping my sword tighter. "I will find you." I grumble under my breath.

There's a clang and a scrapping sound. "You wouldn't kill me." He laughs from somewhere down the corridor. There's another scratch followed by another laugh. "I'm the listener, killing the listener goes against the tenets." He sings to me from somewhere behind me. "You hold them almost as dearly as I do."

"You're not the listener." I grumble under my breath, I pass by one of the alcoves. There's three bloody finger prints on it, he must have Arnbjorn's blood on his hand. He's been an assassin for years, wouldn't leave a trail. He's making me follow a path. Must know where I am. He's smart, might be insane but still smart. Maybe I can get him to drop his guard, slip up. "How many voices do you hear?" I call out to him. "How could you even tell which one's the Night Mother?"

"Oh." He laughs, sounds more strained then it did before. "You want to run from the truth, ignore the truth!" He screams at me. "After what happened with the last listener!" He adds, still screaming. "What happened to her?!" He shouts at me.

He's obviously trying to get under my skin now, that won't work, not with me, not now. "What happened to her?" I call out, repeating his question. "I fucked her!" I shout into the direction I think he's in.

That does the trick, he rushes out. Dagger held ready up and ready to stab. "I'll kill you!" He screams at me, running straight for me. He brings the dagger down and I manage to react quick enough, bringing my sword up and severing his hand at the wrist. He cries out in pain and goes passed me, grab the back of his clothes and stab him in the small of the back. The blade pushes through, snapping his spine as it goes through and comes out through his stomach. Blood gushes out of the wound, running down the blade and pooling in the on the floor.

"Do you really hear her voice?" I grumble to him as he falls back onto my sword.

He coughs, blood following it as he does. "Yes." He groans, putting all his effort into the word. I let him fall down, pulling my sword free as I do.

I wipe the blood off the blade and stand over his now lifeless body. "Then may it comfort you in death." I mumble, Arnbjorn staggers round the corner, griping his stomach and leaving heavily against the wall. "For all the good a lie will."

"Is it done?" He asks me, I look up at him, he's just staring at the body, obviously still sore of the jester getting the better of him.

I slide my sword back into its scabbard, and wipe my hand on my armour, try to get some of the blood of it. "I told you to head back." I look up at him and walk over to him. "Astrid will worry where her wife is." I walk straight passed him, he hangs his head slightly. "Go home dog." I order him. Only kill for profit, only kill when it's needed. I'm going to finish a job I've started, don't need money to do it.

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><p>Present<p>

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><p>"Here." Dirge mutters, putting my equipment on the table. "Sharpened and cleaned." He tells me. I nod and pass him some coins. He walks off as I pick up my ale and take a quick gulp. I look at Delvin, still sat opposite me, a new bottle of mead in front of him now.<p>

He takes a drink of his mead and then puts the bottle down hard. "I assume you'll be leaving soon then." He mumbles, I nod my head and look around the Ragged Flagon.

I left her. I left her when I said I'd get her home, get her back to safety. Instead I left her with the Dawnguard, people who won't acknowledge her as anything but an "it". I've failed what I told her I'd do, I need to change it all and finish what I've started.

"How would you read an Elder Scroll?" He'll know, he has to. "Without the help of a Moth Priest." I tell him. It's time, I can have it and I can finally grasp it.

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><p><strong>Not the best chapter by any stretch, hopefully the next one will turn out better. Reviews, follows and favourites are always appreciated. Couldn't be arsed to read through it cause its like 2 in the morning so I'll fix any mistakes at a later date, probably in like the next week or so. <strong>


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